Indian Railway: all-women crew steers Tippu Express ahead of International Women's Day

March 6, 2020 Yesterday, an all-women crew ran the Mysuru–Bengaluru in the Indian state of Karnataka. The state-run Indian Railways launched this event ahead of International Women's Day, for promoting gender equality at work places. B Shiva Parvathi was running the train as loco pilot (locomotive pilot), and 22-year-old Rangoli Patil was her loco co-pilot. The train left railway station at 11:30 am  (0600 ), covering a distance of 139 to reach  station. The train had banners on it which mentioned "International Women's Day Celebration".

Speaking to newspaper , B Shiva Parvathi said, "It is a proud moment for me to be steering this train today along with my Loco Pilot Rangoli and the all-women staff". Mysore Divisional Railway Manager Aparna Garg told Wikinews only 10% of the employees in the were women, which constitutes about 650 female employees.

Mysore district comes under the (SWR) branch of the Indian Railway. Mysore Division of the SWR celebration of the Women's day started on March 1, and is planned till March 10. Various activities are being conducted in this period, including health check-ups, yoga, sports competition and trekking, newspaper  reported.

"The theme 'Equal for All' is an effort of the Railways to promote more women workforce and empower them. Women of today are no less to any men, be it in any field.  I hope through such initiatives, more number of women are motivated to take up jobs in their respective fields of interest", Garg told Star of Mysore.