Meet the first woman loco pilot of Vande Bharat Express

There is no limit to what women can accomplish, this is true for Surekha Yadav who on Monday made history by becoming the first woman loco pilot of the Vande Bharat Express train. She piloted the semi-high-speed train between Solapur station and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) in Mumbai. The train departed Solapur station at right time on March 13 and 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, Ms. Yadav was felicitated at platform number 8 at CSMT. This news was celebrated as a step towards women empowerment. Sharing her news on Twitter, Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw yesterday said, Vande Bharat “powered by Nari Shakti.” Yadav now runs the Vande Bharat on the Mumbai-Pune-Solapur route. Surekha who hails from Satara in the western Maharashtra was India’s first female train driver in 1988. Vande Bharat express was started in 2019. The first Vande Bharat Express train was flagged off on New Delhi-Kanpur-Allahabad-Varanasi route. Last February also, Prime Minister Narendra flagged off the Vande Bharat Express train from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT)- Solapur.