India: Tripura gets first female to run trains, cracks railways exam

India: Debalina Roy, a resident of Tripura’s Ramnagar, has cracked the Indian railway examination and become eligible to run trains. She secured the post of assistant loco pilot and became the first female from the state to crack the exam. 

Debalina Roy expressed pleasure in her accomplishment and stated that it was a dream come true. She said that she always wanted to serve in the railways since childhood. She said that she wanted to become part of the transport which is used by crores of Indians daily.

After her accomplishment, she held an interaction with media persons and recalled the moment when she came across an advertisement released by the Indian railways as she was preparing for civil service examinations. 

She said that in 2018, she had cleared the prelims and attempted the mains laters and thought of giving the exam to gain good experience for the writing exams for technical posts, but she got selected. After that, she received several congratulatory messages on social media platforms as she created history for the state. 

She called railways a big platform that will fulfil many aspirations. She said that no female candidate eligible for the role should deprive themselves of taking up the job because of their gender identity. 

Roy also talked about the contribution of men and women in nation-building and stated that this is necessary for both genders to work for the welfare and upliftment of society. She always wanted to be financially independent and said that it was quite natural people would have expected any man on her post, but times have changed. 

She also gave a brief description of the preparations for the exam and said that it took her about four months to prepare herself. She said when she saw the advertisement, she reached out to some of her seniors who were already working with the railways to understand about the job. She found it adventurous.