Asia’s First Female Loco Pilot, Surekha Yadav, Operates Vande Bharat Express

Surekha Yadav, the first female locomotive pilot in Asia, is now driving the Vande Bharat Express. On Monday, she drove the semi-high-speed train from Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminal (CSMT) to Solapur station.

The Ministry of Railways posted a video of her driving the Vande Bharat Express train on Twitter. Ministry tweeted, “Salute to #Narishakti! Smt. Surekha Yadav, Loco Pilot cruising the first female driven Vande Bharat train from CSMT, Mumbai to Solapur through the steepest Bhor Ghat between Mumbai & Pune in Maharashtra” through its official Twitter handle.

Salute to #Narishakti!

Smt. Surekha Yadav, Loco Pilot cruising the first female driven Vande Bharat train from CSMT, Mumbai to Solapur through the steepest Bhor Ghat between Mumbai & Pune in Maharashtra. pic.twitter.com/WWKiUIXYrx

— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) March 15, 2023

Ms. Yadav, who is from Satara in western Maharashtra, made history in 1988 when she was hired as India’s first female train driver. She had already received numerous honors for her accomplishments at the state and national levels.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the go-ahead for the Central Railway to operate two Vande Bharat Express trains on the CSMT-Solapur and CSMT-Sainagar Shirdi lines on February 10, 2023.

Railway officials claim that operating a locomotive on a new route requires extensive training and that the crew must always be on guard.

“The crew learning procedure encompasses signal observing, hands-on new equipment, collaboration with other crew members, and observation of all parameters for the functioning of a train”, the release noted.

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