2 Women Pilots Lead Lucknow’s First Metro Trial Run

Two women pilots called the shots on Thursday as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav flagged off the Lucknow Metro's first trials on Kanpur Road.  

Lucknowites cheered as the elevated corridor Metro was piloted by Pratibha and Prachi Sharma. The women are now testing their mettle before they can run the high-tech Metro trains for the public. "We have chosen two women operators to drive the Metro train before the CM and public for the first time. Our women train operators are so confident and excited to drive it that they wished to take lead in the trials. They have undergone rigorous training, both at the Centre of Excellence of the Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation and hands-on training at the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation," LMRC MD Kumar Keshav told TOI.

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He added, "LMRC is a progressive and coherent organization which believes in giving opportunities to both boys and girls."

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This decision of giving the lead to women made Lucknow the first city in the country where women operators commence Metro trials. The two women have broken into a profession that’s has always been male-dominated. The Lucknow Metro has recruited 97 drivers, out of which 21 are women.

Except for Chennai, the other city metros have just 1-2% women operators. In Delhi Metro, only three-four women operators are seen driving trains.

Both Pratibha and Prachi hail from Allahabad and are B Tech in electronics and communication engineering from SRMSCET and electrical engineer from IERT, Allahabad, respectively. Both joined LMRC as station controller-cum-train operators on June 9 and have been specially trained to operate Metro..

Feature Image Credit: TOI

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