Team Of 14 Women Smashes Stereotypes As The 1st Of Its Kind To Maintain Trains In Kerala!

It is inspiring to see how women are smashing stereotypes and penetrating into traditionally male-dominated professions. We saw the Fifa Women’s World Cup this year itself gain a lot of audiences worldwide and phenomenal players like Megan Rapinoe leaving their mark. We also saw over 2 lakh women apply for the role of jawans in the Indian Army Military Corps recently. Even though we have miles to go when it comes to equality in various workspaces, each step is worth celebrating.

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In a first of its kind, an all-women team of railway employees in Kerala have been given the responsibility of train maintenance and passenger safety. The L-Team, as they call themselves with ‘L’ standing for ‘ladies’, consists of 14 women led by a woman supervisor. According to NDTV, they take care of four rakes or 80 train coaches with compulsory preventive safety checks which are required for all the rakes after every 3,500 km. It is a necessity to avoid derailments.

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A woman with 12 years of dedicated service to her name, Sreekala VM supervises the entire team.

“We are responsible for the safety of passengers. We are responsible for the safety of a train. Everything is checked by us for the rakes. We are in charge of the mechanical maintenance side. Inside job, passenger amenities, or even the under gear examinations which are a high priority for safety, all are our responsibilities”, she said.

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The youngest member of the team is the 28-year-old Krishnendu who was at first nervous about the job because it needed a lot of physical and mental strength. But practice makes one perfect!

“Initially I was scared. But with practice, now we are perfect, things have become easier. It was unheard that women alone could handle critical checks for rakes by themselves. But, now that our team is doing it successfully, I am very proud. My family is very proud. Most of us have learnt on the job.”

Watching these women on the go is truly amazing!

We hope this stands as an inspiration to many other male-dominated sectors and pave the path for a more gender-inclusive work-space!

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