DELHI (Metro Rail News): Ashwini Vaishnaw announced a new ‘Wagon Design Policy’ for railway in a major announcement on Railway Reforms today (July 14). The minister reformed the earlier constrained policy of Wagon Design to a new policy with less restrictions and induction of industry adapted Wagons proposed by industry experts.
The Railway Wagon Design Policy had less scope for innovation because the wagon design was only done by the Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO). Moreover, there were restrictions on components like Coupler, Bogie, and Air Brake System and only the designs approved by the Indian Railway Standard (IRS) could be used.
The minister said that “Now, industries can do their own design for Wagon. For example, if the stream industry or milk industry want to make a special wagon, this will now be possible.”
Five Stages for Introduction of New Design
The weekly brief metro & rail professionals read.
He announced five stages for the introduction of new design:
- Conceptualization and Submission of new design to RDSO
- In-Principle approval by RDSO
- Detailed Designing of the proposed NWD and parallel manufacturing of prototype wagon
- Static and Dynamic Testing of prototype wagon, followed by rakes testing by RDSO
- Inspection by CCRS and first sanction of the Railway Board for introduction.
“The new wagon designs will be tested for 6 months along a distance of 50,000 kilometers.” said the minister. He informed that the evaluation will be based on Schedule of Design (SOD) and afterwards trials and safety certification will be conducted. Finally, this new wagon design could be introduced after this.
Also Read: Ashwini Vaishnaw announces major construction reforms, launches Rail Bhoomi Portal