Ticket examiners misidentified as loco pilots of Vande Bharat Express

The women in the video, Shijina Rajan and Diana Selvan, are travelling ticket examiners (TTEs) and not loco pilots.

A video showing two women walking on a railway platform towards a train with Bollywood music playing in the background has gone viral on the social media with the claim that these women are the loco pilots of India’s Vande Bharat Express.

Caption of the post states, “Vande Bharath Train Loco Pilots Crew.. Could you have ever imagined this amazing scene? From the coal-fired engine drivers to this airline-style engine crew…India is emerging now”

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Fact Check

By performing a simple reverse image search with the key frames of the viral video led us to the Instagram page of Shijina Rajan, the same video uploaded there on 24 September. Her bio mentions that she is a TTE with the Indian Railways and her profile carries several videos and photos of her experience at the job.

Keeping this in mind, we used relevant keywords to look for more details about the video. Then we came across a YouTube video featuring both Shijina Rajan and the second TTE. The video was uploaded on 25 April, 2023 with the title ‘Athlete TTEs of Vande Bharat’ by a channel called ‘Tech Travel Eat Shorts’ in Malayalam language.

The person shooting the video introduces the women as TTEs and the second woman from the viral video mentions her name as Diana. The You Tuber then jokingly adds that the Indian Railways hired former sportspersons as TTEs in the Vande Bharat Express since it is a fast running train. Notably, the viral video’s thumbnail shows ‘Trivandrum Division’ written on the lanyards of the TTEs.

Further search led to a Kerala Kamudi article from April 26, 2023, titled ‘First day of Vande Bharat brings another fame for athlete Padmini Thomas.’ The article features Diana John Selvan, also known as Diana Selvan, who is the daughter of Indian athlete Padmini Thomas and the late athlete John Selvan. Diana retired from athletics and joined the Indian Railways as a TTE six years ago. The article highlights her involvement in the initial run of the Vande Bharat Express in Kerala.

Conclusion- 

Fact Crescendo found that the women in the video, Shijina Rajan and Diana Selvan, are travelling ticket examiners (TTEs) and not loco pilots. The post has been shared as Missing context.