Minister of
Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu Inaugurated an International Technical
Seminar of the Institution of Permanent Way Engineers (I.P.W.E)(India) today
i.e. 20th July, at New Delhi. The topic of the seminar was Global Trends in Track Technologies and Fast Paced
Construction. Chairman, Railway Board, Shri A. K. Mital, Member
Engineering, Railway Board Shri Aditya Kumar Mital and other Railway Board
Members and senior officials were also present on the occasion.
15
speakers including International experts spoke on systems of High Speed Rail
viz. Japanese “Shinkansen”, SNCF (France) and Spain High Speed Rails(HSR)
besides history of track managements systems, track components, rail fasteners
etc. and technological standards adopted on HSR. The seminar was organised in
four sessions viz. Global Trends in Track Technologies Session I & Session
II, Fast Paced Construction Session III & IV. The Technical Session also
covered Technologies for Fast Paced Construction, Project Delivery Methods in
countries like Japan, Austria, USA besides the methods being adopted by track
engineers in the on-going Dedicated Freight Corridor besides mechanised track
laying machines. Shri Prabhu also released the Business Plan of Engineering
Department of Indian Railway, a RDSO handbook on Construction of Earthquake
resistant engineering besides launching Diploma in Engineering by IPWE in
keeping with Skill Development Mission of Indian Railways.
Addressing
the inaugural session, Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Minister of Railways
stated that the Indian Railways is a very professional organisation carrying
out both policy and implementation successfully but emphasised that there is a
greater necessity to catch up with the changing technology for better outcomes
especially with regard to increasing necessity for enhancing speed of
implementation of projects and towards faster goals in building new tracks.
Holding that the track remains the backbone of Indian Railways, he exhorted
that a corridor approach in construction of new tracks would lead to
consolidation of gains with regard to new railway projects.
Delivering
the keynote address, Member Engineer, Railway Board Shri Aditya Kumar Mittal
highlighted recent initiatives viz. web enabled ‘Track management system’(TMS)
to manage all track maintenance related activities which enables planning of
the maintenance activities on real time basis besides Bridge Management
“Track Machines Monitoring and Maintenance System”, “Project Management and
Information System”, “CRS Sanctions Monitoring Application”, Building and
Structures Information System, GIS and GPs mapping of IR assets and use of
items and CC cameras for monitoring of major projects. In keeping with the
global trends trials of being carried out to adopt wider and heavier PSC
sleeper which will enhance the track frame resistance. Other new technological
trends being adopted includes under sleeper pads, Trials of Ballastless Track
in identified sections besides new technology in detecting Rail/Weld flaws
through USFD testing.
In this seminar
delegates from all over India and overseas belonging to Permanent Way
fraternity participated in the seminar. Institution of Permanent Way Engineers
(India) have Members, Additional Members of Railway Board, former Chairman,
Railway Board, General Managers and Principal Chief Engineers of Railways,
Chief Commissioner and Commissioners of Railway Safety, Managing Directors and
Directors of our Public Sector Undertakings, Director and Professors from
Indian Railway Institute of Civil Engineering, Executive Directors and
Directors from Railway Board, Executive Directors and Directors from Research
Design and Standards Organisation, senior serving as well as retired officers
from Railways and other Government and Public sector undertakings, Delegates
and representatives from various Zonal Railways, other organizations and firms.
Deliberations on
global trends in Track Technology and fast paced construction took place and
thought provoking papers supported by extensive field data were presented. At
the end of the seminar, Director, Indian Railway Institute of Civil Engineering
made a summary of deliberations for further action.
Indian Railways
is witnessing unprecedented transformation and paradigm shift due to massive
thrust on expansion of Network. The network is being upgraded for raising of
speeds and heavier axle load operation. High Speed Rail Network has been
envisaged and is taking shape. This scenario, necessitates identification and
adoption of best Global Technologies in the area of Modern Track Technology,
High Speed Rail and Fast Paced Construction methodologies.
The purpose of
this seminar was to attract participation of leading international track and
construction experts to share their domain knowledge and deliberate on latest
trends and practices in track technologies and construction methodologies.
Special reference was given to High Speed and Semi High Speed Rail
Construction.
There were 11
papers presented in the seminar from International experts from Japan, Spain,
UK, Belgium, France and so on.
Institution
Of Permanent Way Engineers:
This is the Golden Jubilee year
of establishment of the Institution. The Institution was set up 50 years ago in
Pune.
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The Institution of Permanent
Way Engineers (India) is a technical body set up under the auspices of
Railway Ministry for sharing knowledge and experience of various Railway
Engineers connected with Permanent Way (Railway track), bridges and other
structures. The Institution was formed on May 18, 1967 with its Headquarters
at Pune and was subsequently registered as a Public Trust Office at Pune on
28.7.1972.
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The Institution has been
playing a vital role in disseminating knowledge of permanent way, bridges and
other structures amongst various Railwaymen.
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Aims of
Institution:
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The aim of the Institution is
to facilitate dissemination and sharing of technical knowledge relating to
design, construction and maintenance of Permanent Way, bridges and other
structures amongst the persons associated with it. To this end, the Institution
promotes and arranges seminars, lectures, discussions, exhibitions for the
information and benefit of the members of the Institution and also publishes
and circulates Technical information to facilitate interchange and sharing of
ideas.
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The institution is administered
by the Governing Council. The Secretarial Office is headed by the Executive
Director of the Institution with necessary infrastructure under his charge.
This Secretarial office is in Rail Bhawan in New Delhi. The president of the
institution is Member Engineering Railway Board and the Vice President is
Additional Member Civil Engineering.
The activities of Institution are
spread over Indian Railways. There are 16 centres with their jurisdiction over
the respective Zonal Railways. In addition, there are also Centres at the RDSO,
Lucknow and Indian Railway Institute of Civil Engineering, Pune with
Jurisdiction over these respective organisations. Each zonal centre is
subdivided into sub-centres, located at the Divisional Headquarters of all the
Zonal Railways. The Principal Chief Engineer of each Zonal Railway is Ex
Officio Chairman of the Zonal Centre.
The Chief Administrative Officer
(Construction) of each zonal railway is the Ex-Officio Co-Chairman of the zonal
centre.
The Institution arranges
seminars, lectures, discussions and exhibitions to disseminate the knowledge of
Permanent Way, bridges and other structures amongst all railwaymen, members of
the institution as well as amongst suppliers and manufacturers of track components
and other consulting firms associated with design, construction and maintenance
of permanent way, bridges and other structures.
The Institution publishes a
quarterly Journal containing technical articles to share the knowledge among
the Railway men. The institute runs a Diploma course on “Railway Engineering”
through distance learning.
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AKS/MKV/ENS