Lifeline to the Nation

She would have been a lecturer had she not joined the Indian Railways (IR). An M.Com from the Delhi School of Economics and a BEd from Central Institute of Education, Delhi University, Rekha Sharma, 30, wrote the Civil Services examination and according to her "rank and preference" got a job in the Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS). She joined the Delhi Division of the IR, after 18 months of training, as assistant operations manager, coaching, on June 2010.

"Working for the Indian Railways gives us a sense of pride," she says. IR, according to her, is the nation's lifeline, "affecting the lives of millions of people using rail services." It gives her the opportunity to work for the "common man" and provides "huge societal recognition, power and authority to enjoy."

Around 3000 people work under her. Controlling such huge manpower will no doubt give you a sense of power and authority. "I can question them, issue charge-sheets to them and even suspend them (for dereliction of duty)," she says. But power is not to be misused. She is proud of the duties she discharges and the responsibilities she has.

Sharma's day starts as early as 6 am. She collects information on the movement of trains from the control room and coordinates repairs of damaged coaches (whenever that happens), sees to the allocation of engine drivers and crews for the train, availability of loco engines etc. "All these have to be done by the operations team," she says. She also has to answer to her superiors if a train runs late. Pressures also increase in the event of a mishap or calamity. "Recently the Jamuna Bridge was closed because of rising water levels. On the basis of the feedback received from the engineering team, we had to take a call (on cancellation of trains)," she says.