Institution of Permanent Way Engineers — IPWE (India) organised a two-day National Technical Seminar recently. The seminar has been organised to deliberate on issues of maintenance and rail and weld management, increase of speed on existing Indian Railway routes, metro system design, standards and construction.
Delivering valedictory address at the conclusion of the two-day seminar, Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu said that there is a need to benchmark the best engineering practices of India and abroad and then adapt them to suit Indian requirements.
He said that one of the subjects of the seminar, Rail Weld Management, is very important and we have to work towards minimising cases of rail fractures and weld fractures as far as possible to ensure safety in railway operation. He said that the seminar will come up with suggestions and we should find mechanisms to integrate them in day-to-day functioning.
Referring to the excellent engineering marvel undertaken by the Indian Railways in the past like Konkan Railways, Jammu and Kashmir railway project etc, the Railway Minister said skill upgradation should be a continuous process and effort should be made to lower the cost of projects. On this occasion, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu released a booklet with the title Norms for Divisional Permanent Way Training Institutes published by Northern Railways.
On the occasion, IPWE also arranged a technical exhibition. Seminar and exhibition were inaugurated by Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha in the presence of AK Mittal, chairman Railway Board, and VK Gupta, member Engineering Railway Board and President IPWE (I). Senior railway officers and delegates from all over Indian Railways, trade and industries attended the seminar. Sinha released the conference souvenir and technical literature related to the topics of the Seminar. He awarded the winner authors of the previous Seminar.