Railways looks to revamp R&D wing RDSO, induct new tech

NEW DELHI: Railways has constituted a committee to review and streamline induction of new technologies and redefine the role of its R&D wing - Research Design and Standards Organization (RDSO).

Apart from suggesting ways to upgrade the technical capability of railway workshops and production units, the panel will recommend creating a mechanism for incubation of innovative ideas and product development and also address issues related to intellectual property rights.

The committee, comprising railways officers, will also have Niti Aayog member V K Saraswat as a special invitee.

One of the terms of reference of the panel is regulation of indigenization and assimilation of modern technology received by the state-run transporter.

The panel, which will submit its report in three months, will also explore modalities of technological tie-ups for railway production units to enhance their relevance in the open market.

Railway minister Suresh Prabhu has said the national transporter is modernizing rolling stock workshops and inducting new technologies, including use of robotic welding and laser cutting.

Some other new technological inductions are Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine centre to equip workshops for repair and production of modern stainless steel wagons and augmentation of capacities of existing workshops to meet the requirements of increasing number of such wagons.