2 women get ticket to drive Mumbai's first metro trains

It took the Railways nearly 125 years to rope in their first woman driver but Mumbai Metrorsquos very first batch of 40 pilots includes two women who are now in the midst of a gruelling 80day training programme in the city having finished a stint abroad The training imparted on a machine that costs a hefty Rs 40 crore teaches the trainee pilots not only how to drive the new trains but also to tackle crises like terror strikes or medical emergency Manning the controls Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan gave a green signal to the trial run of Mumbai Metro Rail between Versova and Andheri Sports Complex earlier this month Once they complete training the two women mdash Priyanka Balid and Srikala Nair mdash and their 38 male counterparts will be maneuvering trains on the 1107kmlong Versova Andheri Ghatkopar VAG corridor the cityrsquos first Metro line Priyanka who is a mechanical engineer and her cotrainee Srikala were selected from 6000 applicants who responded to the advertisement Ready to ride Mumbai Metro One Private Limited MMOPL officials revealed that the training programmes were trained in a manner that would equip the pilots to handle crisis effectively Twentyfouryearold Priyanka who is enjoying her stint thoroughly said ldquoTraining to be a pilot is definitely interesting and involves a lot of hard work The training includes 40 per cent of theory and 60 per cent practical work We are learning to tackle possible challenges that we may face during train operations mdash say if the train malfunctions or a passenger falls sick At the end of each programme each trainee pilot is evaluated through a written and a practical examinationrdquo If they are successful the trainees will get be awarded a certificate of competency At present the trainees are running the train in a car depot as also on a 3km stretch between Versova and Azad Nagar Srikala the other traineetrain pilot said ldquoThe most challenging aspect was the pace and intensity of training continuous regular assessment to test competency is not something you cannot avoidrdquo One of the two selected trainee pilots goes through a practice drill PicNimesh Dave On the syllabus Experienced train drivers who have undergone advanced driverrsquos training in India and abroad are imparting the training sessions The batch of 40 trainee pilots have to undergo a series of stringent tests through will the gradual upgradation of their skill sets will be evaluated Simulator training is also a key aspect of the programme preparing them for reallife situations that may crop up Their reaction time is calculated in aach of these tests to gauge their alacrity In fact they arenrsquot just trying out their newly acquired skills on the VAG corridor the group recently got the chance to run trains at Seoul and Nanjing in China MMOPL and MMRDA officials feel that the experience of driving trains abroad helped the trainees understand and appreciate the high standards of safety practised there ldquoThis allowed them to garner indepth understanding of the management practices adopted internationally to respond to passenger expectations in times of emergency and even under normal circumstancesrdquo said an MMOPL spokesperson Last stretch When they complete the gruelling training programme each trainee has to successfully drive an empty train on Mumbai Metro Line 1 to receive his or her certificate of competency after which they will be taken on board to drive Metro trains all over the city Refresher training will be given every six months over the first two years of service Keeping in mind that technical aptitude for pilots to tackle challenges on the job the candidates had to have at least a graduate degree in science with Physics and Maths as subjects Engineers with diplomas and degrees were also eligible To qualify for training each pilot had to pass rigorous medical tests The selection process was also exacting The RDSO Research Design and Standards Organisation conducted the testing modules Applicants had to go through written tests which evaluated their memory IQ observation skills and personality type Then also had to ace certain aptitude tests Those who cleared this level were further shortlisted through two rounds of interviews After selection they went through yet another series of physical tests so their reaction time could be calculated Project Details Name Versova Andheri Ghatkopar Metro corridor Length 1007 Km Cost Rs 2356 crore gtgt The metro rakes that have arrived in Mumbai have four coaches each with a minimum seating capacity of about 50 passengers and can accommodate about 325 standees which sums up to a total of 1500 passengers per train gtgt The trail run on the 3km stretch between Versova and Azad Nagar station was successfully conducted on May 1 which was flagged off by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan Special features Some key highlights of Mumbai Metro One gtgt First metro project in India with a cablestayed bridge built over Western Express Highway Jogeshwari Flyover This is also the highest stayed cable bridge for a metro in Asia gtgt Out of 16 rolling stocks of four coaches 10 have already arrived and are being commissioned gtgt The existing suburban trains connect the northern and southern parts of the city This project will provide the first EastWest rail based connectivity between the central and western suburbs gtgt This project will reduce the journey time from 120 minutes to 21 minutes between Versova and Ghatkopar and will provide railbased access to MIDC SEEPZ and other commercial developments gtgt The project is in the final stages of completion with 99 per cent of civil work already completed and all rail system works in final stage of testing and commissioning integrated testing of all the systems will begin shortly gtgt The city39s first Metro project will have a treatment plant to recycle water used to wash rakes Four lakh litres of water will be recycled every day making it an ecofriendly initiative gtgt The rolling stocks will have black boxes to record all vital information at time of any unfortunate incident 80 The number of days that the training programme is going to continue for Rs 50KRs 70K The monthly salary to be paid to the pilots once they begin manning the controlsu00a0