Priti Kumari prepares for her solo ride in Mumbai on Tuesday after becoming Western Railways’ first motorwoman. (Fotocorp)

Mumbai, Oct. 12: Mamata Banerjee missed the moment, but Priti Kumari was on track.

As the 2.29pm suburban local jerked and then slowly pulled out of Churchgate station, the 34-year-old young woman sounded another horn for change, the railway minister’s pet theme as she eyes the seat of power in faraway Bengal.

Kumari became Western Railway’s first motorwoman in the 143 years it has been running Mumbai’s suburban railway network.

Although Central Railway’s Surekha Yadav was Asia’s first lady motorwoman to pilot its suburban trains, Kumari is the first to have been directly recruited. While Yadav had started as an assistant locomotive driver before she became a motorwoman in 2000, Kumari had applied for the job following an ad brought out by the Railway Recruitment Board.

Dressed in a green churidar-kurta with a brown dupatta, Kumari looked happy and excited as she stood beside the train this afternoon, but also seemed a bit nervous as flash bulbs popped and photographers made her pose.

“I always wanted to do a job that was different. When I saw the railway advertisement in the newspapers, I opted for it. I had also applied for a junior engineer’s post in Allahabad, but I got this one,” Kumari said, before she started her 65-minute journey to Borivli.

Asked if she saw any symbolism in her achievement and Mamata being the railway minister, Kumari told The Telegraph: “When the highest office in India is occupied by a woman, there is nothing impossible for women any longer.”

Had Mamata congratulated her or sent any message? “No,” she replied, “but I always hope for her blessings.”

Kumari, who has a BA in history and is a diploma holder in electronics, is from Bihar’s Banka district. She joined Western Railway’s Electrical Training College, Mahalaxmi, in August last year and lives in suburban Dahisar with her husband Devkant Darbey, who works as a sergeant with the Indian Air Force’s radio department, and seven-and-a-half-year-old daughter Aditi Arya.

Married when she was in her final year of college, her family soon took priority. “But my husband and in-laws felt I was wasting my time and pushed me into taking this up,” she said.

Kumari has read about Surekha Yadav, but had not imagined she would one day be her counterpart on Western Railway. “I was aware of Surekha Yadav’s achievement, but frankly I wasn’t aware that I would be the first lady motorman on Western Railway. I want to meet Yadav one day,” she said.

Kumari is aware of the responsibilities and dangers of her job. Mumbai’s suburban trains, which ferry more than six million passengers every day, are a soft target for terror attacks. Seven Western Railway suburban locals were targeted in the worst terror attack on Mumbai’s trains on July 11, 2006.

There is another danger. Motormen often become the target of passenger fury when technical glitches delay services, especially during the morning and evening peak hours.

For Kumari, the worst part of her job has been mishaps involving people crossing tracks. “During training, a man crossing the tracks died under my train one day,” she said. Kumari said she would “never forget” the day the man was run over.

Over 3,000 people die every year on Mumbai’s two suburban railway networks.

She wouldn’t forget this afternoon too, when a long-entrenched bastion gave way quietly.

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee beware, change is on track.