Surekha Yadav

Surekha Shankar Yadav née Surekha Ramchandra Bhosale (born 2 September 1965) is the senior-most female locopilot (train driver) at the Indian Railways. She became India's first female train driver in 1988. She drove the first "Ladies Special" local train for Central Railways when it was first introduced in the four metro cities by Mamata Banerjee the then Railway Minister, in April 2000. She was suburban local train motor woman from 2000 to 2010. She then got promoted to Sr. Loco Pilot Mail in 2010. A momentous event in her career was on 8 March 2011, on the International Women's Day, when she became Asia's first woman train driver to drive the Deccan Queen from Pune to CST, through difficult but scenic topography, where she was greeted by the then Mayor of Mumbai Shraddha Jadhav, at CST, the headquarter of Central Railway zone. She repeated the feat ten years later driving an all-woman crew from Mumbai to Lucknow. A commonly heard comment in 2011 was that "Women don't drive railway engines'".

Early life Surekha was born in Satara in Maharashtra on 2 September 1965 to Sonabai and Ramchandra Bhosale. Her father late Ramchandra Bhosale was a farmer; she is the eldest of his five children. She had initial schooling at Saint Paul Convent High School, Satara. After completion of schooling, she took admission for vocation training and then studied for a Diploma in Electrical Engineering from the Government Polytechnic at Karad in the Satara district of western Maharashtra She wanted to continue her college studies to get graduate degrees of Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in mathematics and Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) to become a teacher, but a job opportunity in the Indian Railways put an end to her further studies. For driving a “ghat loco”, in the ghat (hill) section of the Western Ghats, she received special training to run the twin-engined passenger trains that negotiate the hills of western Maharashtra. She said that "Because I was the only woman, they were curious whether I could do it or not". She has no record of train accidents. and she works for ten hours a day.

On Monday, 13 March 2023, she was the first woman to drive the semi-high-speed Vande Bharat Express train; she drove it from Solapur to Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus covering a distance of 455 kms .

On Tuesday, 14 March 2023, Surekha took the Vande Bharat from CSMT to Solapur.

On Sunday, 26 March 2023, PM Narendra Modi mentioned Surekha Yadav in his 99th episode of Mann ki Baat, appreciating her for being the First Lady to drive the Make In India Vande Bharat Train 18, along with being First in every other category in her long service.

On Thursday, 18 September 2025, A farewell function and lunch was held on CSMT railway station premises, after Yadav piloted the Rajdhani Express (22222, Hazrat Nizamuddin–CSMT) from Igatpuri, marking one of her last assignments. (Reference : Times of India, dated : 20 September 2025).

On the same evening of 18th September at 07.34 pm, Central Railway posted from its official twitter account as "Smt. Surekha Yadav, Asia’s First Woman Train Driver, will retire on 30th September after 36 glorious years of service. A true trailblazer, she broke barriers, inspired countless women, and proved that no dream is beyond reach. Her journey will forever remain a symbol of women empowerment in Indian Railways."

On Friday, 19 September 2025, however, it was not just the Central Railway and its staff members who congratulated the first woman loco pilot. Mahindra Group Chairman, Anand Mahindra took to his X (formerly Twitter) to congratulate Yadav for "being a pioneer". His tweet read as “Congratulations on being a pioneer, Surekha ji. And my best wishes upon your retirement after such a long career of serving the people. Thank you for reminding us today, that iconic change makers like you must be celebrated and your contributions never forgotten,” Mahindra wrote on his official X handle at 02.43 pm. (Reference : Hindustan Times)

On Tuesday, 30 September 2025, she is set to retire at the age of 60, after 36+ years of a long service career.

Personal life She got married in 1990 to Shankar Yadav, who is a Police Inspector in the Government of Maharashtra. They have two sons. G.M.award (2011) Woman achievers award (2011) (by central railway) RWCC Best Women award of year 2013. For first lady locopilot on Indian Railways on date 5 April 2013 GM award for first lady locopilot on Indian Railways. April 2011