Namo Bharat train: How Shivani Singh, 22, defied odds to become a pilot
Shivani's father died when she was just 12 and the family of six had to face challenging times.
Shivani Singh, 22, one of the pilots of the Namo Bharat, India's first semi-high-speed train system, has shared the story of her humble beginning to get the job. Shivani's father died when she was just 12 and the family of six had to face challenging times. Amid financial hardships in her family after her father's death, she used her sewing skills to support her education, reported The Times of India.
Sewing skills helped Shivani fund her two-year diploma course in electrical engineering at Bhagwati Institute of Technology and Science in Dasna.
"I had started sewing out of boredom. Eventually, it helped me contribute to my family's income. My elder brothers supported me in my school days, but a time came when I had to make the choice to stand on my own feet. I enrolled for the two-year diploma course in electrical engineering and completed it with the money I had saved," she told The Times of India.
Shivani got selected through campus hiring when a government company came looking for candidates who would drive trains on the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) between Delhi and Meerut. The first section of Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut trains of the RRTS corridor was inaugurated by PM Modi in 2023 and the full unveiling is set to happen in 2025. Shivani is piloting the Namo Bharat trains through the priority section after several months of training.
She recalls the day when the first section of the RRTS corridor was inaugurated. Along with her friend Reshma, she was deployed on the rear carriage of the Namo Bharat train.
"We were dressed in our uniforms- blue suits and a red cap- which made us feel like airline pilots. It still gives me the goosebumps... the sight of the PM waving the flag and a crowd cheering," Shivani was quoted as saying by The Times of India.
Shivani's training as a pilot for Namo Bharat train
National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) trained Shivani in a batch of 18 women, for a year. The batch of women pilots learnt how to operate modern trains during their assignment to Lucknow Metro for the first three months.
Shivani has shared that practical and theoretical classes took place at Duhai depot for the remaining nine months and they became well-versed in the operation of rapid rail trains. She added that first they got trained on simulators and later, on real trains.
