Ladies Coaches In Mumbai Local Get Modern Makeover; Twitter Divided

In what can be best described as a silent nod to woman power and womanhood, Mumbai local trains, that ferry thousands across the city on a daily basis are modernising the woman coach logo.

No longer will you see the woman in saree with the pallu pulled across her head on the coaches dedicated to women in local trains. Giving way to the original design is a woman in formal suit and shirt, all geared up to take over.

The new motif will soon be running across all women's coaches on all three lines running across Mumbai -- the Western line, Central line and the Harbour line.

However, the metamorphosis does not end there. According to a Mid-Day report, as a part of the upgrade of women's coaches, Western Railways have decided to put posters of women idols such as the first Indian woman astronaut, Kalpana Chawla along with ace badminton player, Saina Nehwal, and cricketer, Mithali Raj along with the details of their achievements inside the coaches as well.

While only two of the 12-coach trains have been upgraded with the new logo and posters as of yet, two more are expected to roll out in a few weeks.

According to reports, the move for modernisation came about when AK Gupta, WR (Western Railways) General Manager, while undertaking routine checks felt that none of the symbols depicting women reflected the sensibilities of the modern woman. Apart from the new symbols, senior citizen and handicap coaches will be coloured yellow for better identification.

Citing a Mumbai Mirror article talking about the same, Western Railways took to their Twitter handle to announce the change as well. They wrote, "To keep up with the changing times, WR is modernising the logo used to mark women’s coaches. Apart from the change in the logo, posters of inspiring women with details of their achievements will also be displayed in the ladies coaches. @drmbct."

Speaking to Mumbai Mirror, Ravinder Bhakar, Chief PRO, Western Railways said: "The idea was to adopt an icon that will do justice and represent today's women in this city, who are independent and successful."

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Netizens, however, seemed divided. While some hailed the move as a “nice initiative” or even called it a “good move,” there were those who felt that the logos should be more inclusive and not typecast what a modern woman should look like.

One user wrote, “Good thought about the change but I would love to see instead a group of women of different attires as the logo because travelling in train is teamwork and our crowds are a mix anyway of ethnic wear and office wear so a better solution might be a team of women,” while another posted, “Women of all kinds and dressed in different attires travel in the train. Good on you to out a 'modern' woman as your logo but why exclude the one in a saree? Trains are for all.”

Then there were those who felt Western Railways needs improvement in other areas.

“It's merely symbolic. Make trains and stations safe for women. See the condition of toilets in any station. It's shameful," wrote one user, while another wrote, "Instead of wasting efforts on this, should prioritise the running status and conditions of trains which are more important......"

Some even felt that the 'modernizing' was taking away from core Indian values.

"Modernizing! You call changing logos from Indian to Western Style “modernization” what else could be more shameful than this? You’re giving your passengers a legacy of calling their own culture backward or being ashamed of," wrote an irate netizen.