2 Women Metro train drivers Preethi and Jayashree
A. Preethi and G. Jayashree — the only two women train operators for Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL).
“I have been having fun operating the trains; it is like a child being handed a new toy,” says Preethi, while her colleague adds, “The best thing is you are off the vehicle-choked roads.”
They didn’t aim to become train operators at Chennai Metro. Preethi says, “It was incidental. Initially, I fancied becoming an assistant loco pilot with the Railways, but the present job came my way first and I took it up.”
After months of theoretical classes, only in June 2014, when the training session began, did the women figure out they were to become train operators.
“Initially, we drove the trains on the test tracks inside the depot in Koyambedu. Now, we run them between Koyambedu and Alandur,” says Jayashree.
There are driver-less Metro Rail trains in the world. Even Chennai Metro trains are equipped
As part of their training, Preethi and Jayashree visited Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, met their counterparts there and drove trains in Delhi’s test tracks. “There isn’t any difference between the two,” says Jayashree.
Preethi and Jayashree say they would like to see more women join their battalion. “It isn’t rocket science. It would be exciting if more women took up such jobs,” says Preethi.
First Woman Driver Steers Chennai's First Metro Train
A 28-year-old woman, a diploma holder in engineering from a government polytechnic college, drove Chennai's first metro train on Monday. The Chennai Metro Rail service was flagged off from Alandur station by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. The whole event was telecast live from the state secretariat.
Preethi drove the train for a 10 km stretch from Alandur to Koyambedu.
"I am excited, my daughter's dream of becoming a loco pilot of Metro Rail has come true," Preethi's father R Anbu told PTI. Anbu said his daughter had dreamt of becoming a loco pilot ever since the metro rail project had begun to take shape.
"She quit her first job, applied for a job in Chennai Metro rail, and she was the first woman to get selected," he said. She was trained for a year and half along with others in Chennai and Delhi. "Three other women joined as pilots after her and I am happy that she was successful."
Alandur is the biggest metro station in Chennai and was full of enthusiastic city residents excited to board the first train.
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