All-Women crew manning Gundla Pochampally Railway Station

Once you enter Gundla Pochampally Railway Station, one can witness how enthusiastically women staff is performing their respective duties. This station is the best example of breaking the stereotype and they set an example that women in today's generation can also walk on their feet to earn a livelihood.

The Gundla Pochampally Railway Station, one of the suburban railway stations in Secunderabad–Medchal section that was recently handed over women staff to handle all the day-to-day activities from operations, security, ticketing and other relevant duties that are points men and RPF officials. Around 12 staff has been deployed including four for operations, four for pointsmen, one RPF, two for technical works and one for commercial activities. The station has two platforms, two tracks (up line and down line) and as it is a halt station for passenger trains, nearly 12 trains stop at the station per day and hardly 30 passengers use the services.

Sharing her journey, P Urvashi Naidu, station master at Gundla Pochampally Railway Station, said, "I have never thought I would be handling a station which would be all women staff in my five years of career. It has been a week I have been working over here. Before being posted over here, I was working at Cavalry Barracks Railway, AOC center, Secunderabad. My role includes monitoring the incoming and outgoing trains, shunt movements, and brake vans. In operation works, now it is totally interlocked, we don't have any problems with this but earlier it was bite changelling but thanks to technology that has made our life easy. Sometimes when there is too much of work pressure, especially during the festive season and also during an emergency situation, what I feel is that without panicking we should calmly handle the situation, as to handle any situation we are been given training. As for a working woman especially in India who is married and has children, there is no perfect work-life balance. But one can always prioritize and make optimum use of available time and what I always do."

"After getting into Railways, I was first posted at Bolarum Railway Station and now I am posted over here. I feel that there's a different comfort level when one works among women. We are in a better position to understand each other's problems and that helps in the overall functioning of the station too. Initially, I was a little skeptical about my work as it appeared very challenging to me. It just seven months I have been working in railways, Yes job is a challenging and also we have to face many challenges during night shifts but with support from higher authorities helped streamlining many issues", said Kalpana, points men at Gundla Pochampally Railway Station.

"Daily we faced many challenging, as the protection and safety of the station is our responsibility. In my initial stage, I have many hardships. But it has now been one year of my service and I find myself fearless. As we have to face many challenges during night shifts but support from higher authorities helped streamlining many issues. I was inspired to join the railway police force by my father, who has also worked in RPF," said B Krishnaveni, constable, Gundla Pochampally Railway Station.