All-woman staff to man operations aboard Howrah-Jodhpur Express

Prayagraj: An all-woman staff would be manning operations on board the Jodhpur-Howrah Express (12308) for a day on the occasion of International Women’s Day, which would be observed on Sunday. The staff would include women loco-pilots, drivers, guards, ticket collectors and RPF personnel.
When the Howrah-bound train would stop at Tundla Junction —under the jurisdiction of North Central Railway — on Sunday, there would be a change of staff members on board.
Women NCR staffers would be in charge of train operations for the remaining journey — from Tundla Junction to Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction of Prayagraj Division.
The train would be piloted by Archana Kumari (from Tundla to Kanpur), Juli Sachan (from Kanpur to Prayagraj) and Reenu Devi Yadav (from Prayagraj to Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction).
Public relations officer (PRO) of NCR’s Prayagraj division SK Gupta said, “The four ticket examiners would be Krishna Sharma and Poonam Singh between Tundla and Prayagraj. Asha Kumari and Pushplata Jaiswal would be on duty between Prayagraj to Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay junction.”
The RPF personnels Archana Patel, Laxmi Bind, Neha Pal and Pushpa Devi would be stationed for security.
“I am thrilled for being given the responsibility, especially on a day dedicated to women. Although it would be like just another day of duty for me, I feel the gesture will inspire many young girls to join Indian Railways as loco-pilots in the future. I would like to tell them that it is a challenging and thrilling opportunity, if they decide to choose this field,” said Reenu Yadav, assistant loco-pilot who has the experience of driving trains over 25,000 kilometre.