From the engine to the ticketing counter, women were in charge as an all-women crew operated a passenger train from Gorakhpur Junction under the North Eastern Railway’s (NER) Lucknow division on Sunday, marking International Women’s Day.
“MEMU passenger train number 65115 Bhathni-Ayodhya Dham was successfully run entirely by women railway staff. Women employees also operate and manage train operations through the electronic panel at Gorakhpur Junction,” said Pankaj Kr. Singh, NER chief PRO .
The crew included assistant loco pilots Priyanka Sharma and Nidhi Gautam, train manager Jagrati Tripathi, CTTI Mukta Prabha Barla, ticket examiner Neena Siel and RPF constable Neha Yadav.
Women employees also handled ticket distribution through the Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) at booking counters at the main booking office, the cab-way counter on platform 1 and the booking office on platform 9.
Four sanitary pad vending machines, provided under the corporate social responsibility initiative of Ankur Udyog Limited, were made operational on the occasion.
“The laundry unit at Gorakhpur station is also being run entirely by women employees, who handle tasks such as unloading linen from trains, sorting, operating washing and drying machines, folding and packing cleaned linen for dispatch. Women staff are also involved in dry-cleaning operations, blanket washing and finishing processes through calendaring machines,” said the CPRO.
{{/usCountry}}“The laundry unit at Gorakhpur station is also being run entirely by women employees, who handle tasks such as unloading linen from trains, sorting, operating washing and drying machines, folding and packing cleaned linen for dispatch. Women staff are also involved in dry-cleaning operations, blanket washing and finishing processes through calendaring machines,” said the CPRO.
{{/usCountry}}Women employees are also handling rolling-in and rolling-out examinations of coaches, maintenance work in sick lines and operations at the bio-toilet sample testing laboratory.
Gaurav Agrawal, divisional railway manager (DRM), said since October 2025, Lucknow City Railway Station has been run entirely by women employees, making it the only such station in north India where all operations, including signalling and security, are managed round the clock by women staff.