Team News Riveting
Mumbai, March 14
Asia’s maiden woman loco pilot Surekha Yadav has added another feather to her cap as she became the first female to operate the newly-introduced semi-high speed Vande Bharat Express train.
Hailing from Satara in the western Maharashtra region, Surekha joined the Indian Railways and became India and Asia’s first female train driver in 1988. She has won many awards at the state and national levels so far for her achievements.
She piloted the semi-high-speed train between Solapur station and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) in Mumbai on Monday. The train reached CSMT five minutes before the scheduled arrival, a Central Railway release said, adding that on completion of a more than 450-km long journey, Yadav was felicitated at platform number 8 at CSMT.
“Vande Bharat-powered by Nari Shakti. Smt. Surekha Yadav, the first woman loco pilot of Vande Bharat Express,” Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw tweeted.
Earlier on International Women’s Day (8 March), the Central Railways operated the prestigious Mumbai-Pune Deccan Queen Express and CSMT-Kalyan ladies’ special local train with all-women crews. On that day, Yadav operated the Deccan Queen with Sayali Sawardekar as an assistant loco pilot.
Surekha expressed gratitude for being given the chance to operate the Vande Bharat Train. “She was thankful for giving her the opportunity to pilot the new age, state-of-the-art technology Vande Bharat Train. The train departed Solapur at right time and reached CSMT 5 minutes before time,” Central Railways said.
