Jaipur’s Gandhinagar railway station to be the second in the country to be operated solely by all-women staff, first being Matunga railway station in Mumbai. Starting from today, from the ticket collector to the station superintendent – all operations – will witness an all-women show at the Gandhinagar train station. The staff consists of total 40 women. To support the all-women crew, the Railway Protection Force (RPF), has decided to post 11 women police personnel at the police station attached to the railway station. Gandhinagar forms the main line between Jaipur and Delhi. There are approximately 7,000 passengers traveling or passing through each day at Gandhinagar station.

Twenty-five trains stop daily at Gandhinagar station, including high-end tourist trains like Palace on Wheels and the Maharajas’ Express. The entire activity on the railway station will be managed by women, that includes operations like alignment of tracks according to the route of the trains, commercial operations like selling of tickets and ticket collections. The third major function is security, so there will be lady constables patrolling the platforms. The work will be quite challenging for the women staff, but they say they are geared up for the challenge. They will be working two eight-hour shifts in rotation. Speaking about the notorious troublemakers at the railway station, the staff says that it doesn’t matter, and women are not less than anyone. Employees working at this station are well-trained and CCTV cameras and sanitary napkin vending machines were installed before handing it over to the staff.

Last year, Matunga railway station in Mumbai was the first in the country to have deployed all-women staff at the station to manage all railway operations. It has now been entered in the Limca Book of Records 2018 for being manned exclusively by women staffers, a first on the Indian Railways. This initative was started to empower women and create an environment where they can make their own decisions.

Other achievements that have raised the banner of women empowerment

Last year to celebrate International Women’s Day, Air India flew more than ten all-women crew flights on its international and domestic routes from February 26 to March 08, 2017. Yet another all-women crew from the Indian Navy have set out to circumnavigate the globe. The all-women team on board the INSV Tarini, set sail from Goa in 2017 as part of the ‘Navika Sagar Parikrama’ project – which is the first attempt made by an all-women crew to circumnavigate the planet. They are expected to complete the voyage in eight months and will return to Goa in April 2018.

Now more than ever, women are heading with great momentum towards raising the banner of women empowerment. These achievements demonstrate that women are ahead in all spheres and can surpass men in all ways.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 20, 2018 03:37 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).