Indian Railways: Women loco pilots demand that our department be reorganised or that the working environment be made better

In Indian Railways, the status of female loco pilots is miserable and poor. The Railway Board has been urged by him to either allow a transfer to another department or improve his working conditions. Recently, Railway Board Chairperson Jaya Verma Sinha met with a group of women loco pilots. The team addressed their concerns in a memo that they delivered to the chairman of the railway. Members of the All India Railwaymen's Federation are all female loco pilots.

In the memorandum, women loco pilots said that there are no toilets in the engines. We are not even able to change the sanitary pads in the engine. At night we are not even able to go out of the engine to fix technical problems. There is also no pickup and drop facility for late-night duty. It is noteworthy that at present more than 1500 women are working as loco pilots and assistant loco pilots across the country and often they keep raising their issues through various mediums.

A woman loco pilot said that we know that changes are coming in the railways and new engines are coming with toilet facilities but they will take a lot of time to be fully implemented. He said that the 'Record Note of Discussion' states that women employees in engineering, loco pilot and guard categories can be given a one-time option to change the category. But no action is taken on this. We demand that if you cannot improve our workplace then change our department.

Federation General Secretary Shiv Gopal Mishra has also supported the demands of women loco pilots. He said that Railways should either provide facilities or post him in some other department. We support their demands. We will continue to raise their issues until they are resolved.