Surekha Yadav becomes Asia's first woman loco pilot to operate Vande Bharat Express

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Asia’s first woman loco pilot Surekha Yadav has become the first female to operate the newly-introduced semi-high speed Vande Bharat Express train.

An overview of the news

• She piloted a semi-high speed train between Solapur station and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) in Mumbai on 13 March.

• The train left Solapur station on March 13 on schedule and reached CSMT five minutes before its scheduled arrival for a journey of over 450 km.

• Yadav set another record in Central Railway by becoming the first woman loco pilot of Vande Bharat Express.

• Surekha Yadav, a resident of Satara in the western Maharashtra region, became India's first woman train driver in 1988.

• She has won many awards at the state and national level for his achievements so far.

• Central Railway has introduced two Vande Bharat Express trains on CSMT-Solapur and CSMT-Sainagar Shirdi route which were flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 10, 2023.

• Mumtaz Kazi, who has the distinction of being Asia's first suburban motor woman, piloted the K99 local, a women's special train running between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) in Mumbai and Kalyan.