RAILWAYS
TO PROCURE STATE-OF-ART EQUIPMENT FOR
BRIDGE INSPECTION
Indian Railways is in the
process of procuring latest Non-destructive Testing (NDT) Equipment
for its bridges. A task force, constituted by the Ministry of
Railways, has visited some of the advanced countries recently
to study the inspection practice of rail bridges in those countries.
The Railways Research Designs
and Standard Organization (RDSO), Lucknow has already issued a
set of guidelines to all Zonal Railways about the use of such
equipment once they are procured. Inspection of important bridges
using these equipment is expected to start in near future.
Indian Railways with a network
of 63,140 route Km has 1,19984 bridges. Of these 565 are classified
as Important Bridges and 9292 as Major Bridges.