Around 8,000 women employees are working in the South Central Railway (SCR), handling critical roles such as loco pilots, track maintainers and train managers. While balancing family responsibilities and professional duties, these women have been achieving great success, said Principal Chief Personnel Officer Siddharth Kati on Wednesday.
He was speaking at the International Women’s Day celebrations held at Rail Nilayam, where SCR general manager Sanjay Kumar Srivastava presented awards to outstanding women employees from various departments for 2025-26. Prizes were also given to winners of elocution and essay-writing competitions.
Mr. Srivastava said the theme for this year is ‘Give to Gain’ and emphasised that education remains the most powerful tool for empowerment. “It is a matter of great pride for SCR that key departments of the zone — Operating, Commercial, Security, Finance and Medical — as well as the Guntur Division are currently headed by capable women officers,” he said.
Mr. Kati has informed that various facilities have been provided for women employees to register any workplace complaints like ‘she portal’ and ‘shine app’. “We must ensure a safe and happy work environment for women”, he said.
Top women officers — Commissioner of Railway Safety Madhavi, Principal Chief Operations Manager K. Padmaja, Principal Chief Security Commissioner Aroma Singh Thakur, Principal Financial Adviser Hema Suneeta, Principal Chief Medical Director Nirmala Rajaram, Principal Chief Commercial Manager Ity Pandey, Guntur Divisional Railway Manager Sudeshna Sen — also addressed the gathering.
They encouraged women to invest in their health, financial stability, to never give up and to never be afraid to speak up for themselves. Cultural programmes by students of Railway mixed high school along with Kuchipudi dance performance by women employees were performed on the occasion, said a press release.
Inaugural run
The inaugural run of Train No. 05674 Kokrajhar – Cherlapalli Amrit Bharat weekly express will depart from Kokrajhar at 2.30 pm on March 13 and arrive in Cherlapalli at 8.30 am on March 15. It will halt at Gossaigaon Hat, New Alipurduar, New Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri Road, New Jalpaiguri, Aluabari Road, Kishanganj, Barsoi, Malda Town, Rampur Hat, Bolpur S Niktn, Dankuni, Andul, Kharagpur, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur K Road, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Khurda Road, Balugaon, Berhampur, Palasa, Srikakulam Road, Vizianagaram, Pendurti, Duvvada, Samalkot, Rajahmundry, Tanuku, Bhimavaram Town, Gudivada, Vijayawada, Guntur and Nalgonda. The regular service train timings will be notified in due course, said a press release.
Published – March 11, 2026 07:21 pm IST
