Ladies Local

Many years ago there used to be just one ladies compartment in Mumbai Local trains, but times changed when number of women increased ten fold so much so that we had ladies local at certain time of the day.

It was fun watching only women board the only-for-ladies train while men do the bird watching.....

Just gaping hahaaha

Now--a better progress, Mumbai local has its first woman driver.

Like lakhs of Mumbaikars, 34-year-old Priti Kumari rode a local train on Tuesday. The only difference was that she piloted it, becoming the first motorwoman of Western Railway (WR) to do so. Kumari, who hails from Bihar, drove the 2:29 pm local between Churchgate and Borivli and was guided by a chief loco inspector.

Kumari, mother of 10-year-old girl, is the history graduate, who also has a diploma in electronics, she joined the railways in August 2009. On October 11 she and two other motormen were asked to give tests and go through final training in front of senior WR officials. Her husband works for the Indian Air Force, and she will play the crucial role of running more than 1,200 services every day.


“We have to remain alert constantly, especially with the signalling system and at crossovers,” said Surekha Yadav, Asia’s first woman train driver who has been running engines on Central Railway’s long distance trains since 2000. “I am hopeful more women will join the fleet.”