Neither the male-controlled society dug in our frameworks nor the pandemic that had her in its grasp could prevent Shikha Rathore from crushing the unattainable rank. The 31-year-old turned into the primary lady driver to co-pilot a train from Ahmedabad to Rajkot.
She boarded the Coimbatore Express as the Assistant Loco Pilot with her colleague on October 9 and made history. Rathore, who hails from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, used to drive cargo trains till now. Just like the 20-odd female assistant loco pilots in the Ahmedabad Division of the Western Railway, she too dreamed of co-piloting a passenger train. She finally decided to give wings to her aspirations last year.
She applied for this job but was besieged with difficulties. Shortly thereafter, Covid struck, halting all passenger train services. To make matters worse, she too was diagnosed with Covid-19 on April 30 last year, leading to a further setback albeit temporarily.
After recovery, she worked constantly at applying for permission to assist on a passenger train. Her dreams were finally realised last week when she proudly climbed into the engine of the 06614 Coimbatore Rajkot Special Train with her senior colleague Loco Pilot Pradeep Kumar J. She also made the return journey. Asked about her achievement, Shikha Rathore said she had already set her sight further ahead. “I am incredibly happy that I have finally done what I set out to do. But I have no plans to stop. I have now set the bar higher and aim to drive an express/mail train as a Loco Pilot and will work in that direction,” she said.
Her journey into the railways too has not been easy. She had earlier applied for a job in 2009, but her family’s concerns that there weren’t many female loco pilots made her abandon the plan. However, she got the job in 2012. She was then posted to Ahmedabad in 2016 and it took her five more years to realise her dream.
20 female loco pilots
A senior official of the Mechanical Engineering department told Mirror, “It is only recently that we have had more women joining our department. At present, there are about 20 female assistant loco pilots who, apart from Rathore, only drive goods trains. However, we have a gradual training schedule planned and more and more women will be given duties on passenger trains.”
In 2019-20, the Ahmedabad Division used the time during the Covid lockdown to upgrade the facilities better suited for female drivers.
Mirror also spoke to Ahmedabad Divisional Railway Manager Tarun Jain, who said, “We are very proud of Shikha Rathore who became the first female assistant loco pilot to drive a passenger train.”
