Minister of Railways 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.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.The Institution has been playing a vital role in disseminating knowledge of permanent way, bridges and other structures amongst various Railwaymen.
Aims of Institution:
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.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.