By Tej SH
The first ever female train driver of Asia, is set to hang up her boots at the end of the month of September following 36 years of service. Surekha Devi’s birthday on the 2nd of September leaves her at the ripe age of sixty, which is the age of retirement.
Surekha Devi has served the Indian Railways by driving trains of various sorts. These are not limited to Goods Trains, Local Trains of the metropolitan city of Mumbai, Vande Bharat Express, the modern marvel and even the Deccan Express. Her name has been part of various record books. She has been hailed over various forums in India on the occasion of International Women’s Day celebrations. The Central Railway which has its headquarters situated in Mumbai gave a heartfelt and inspirational write up for the retirement of this visionary who broke gender roles.
Surekha was felicitated by her colleagues, the department staff and members of her family. She arrived at theChhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) from Igatpuri in Nashik, a hill station. She had been driving the Hazrat Nizamuddin-CSMT Rajdhani Express, train number 22222, which acted as a farewell run for Surekha Yadav.
Hailing from the city of Satara from Maharashtra, Surekha had worked consistently and hard for the position at where she is now. She began her career in the year 1988 as an assistant driver to a team filled with men. Over the years however, she broke the stereotypes of gender and has earned respect and climbed up the corporate ladder. She has been supported by members of her family in this profession as well. Her husband is a police officer while both her sons are engineers. She also mentions how her parents were never dismissive of this profession either.
Surekha Yadav’s stacked resume consists of starting her career as an assistant locomotive driver in 1989 following her training, she was a goods train driver in 1996, in the year 2000, a motorwoman and in 2010, a Ghat driver. The Deccan Queen was driven by her in 2011 and in 2023, she drove the Vande Bharat Express to Mumbai from Solapur.
She is also a staunch feminist and works for the rights of women and girls. She has participated in activities fostering gender equality and to inspire young girls to work for careers beyond the boundaries of conventionalities.