Gujarat: IPWE's 2-Day Seminar Opens In Gandhinagar With Anil Kumar Khandelwal As Chief Guest

Gandhinagar: The two-day seminar of Institutions of Permanent Way Engineers (IPWE) 2024 was inaugurated at the Convention Centre located at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. The Chief Guest for the program was IPWE Patron and Member Infrastructure, Railway Board, Indian Railways, Anil Kumar Khandelwal.

On this occasion, Principal Chief Engineer of Western Railway, Amit Gupta, who was hosting the program, said in his welcome address that this is the 30th seminar of IPWE which is being organized in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. He also said that it is indeed a matter of honour for Western Railway that we have the opportunity to host this prestigious international event. He further emphasized that this seminar is an important forum for exchanging ideas at various levels in the field of civil engineering and for sharing knowledge as well as experiences. In the era of new technology and modernization in the field of rail track engineering, this event plays an important role in giving the ideas a concrete shape in project planning including bridge engineering and rail track engineering. In this seminar, all the related problems and challenges faced by railway engineers in their respective fields are being discussed in detail by the railway engineers.

Minister of Railways, Ashwini Vaishnaw gave a message through video conferencing for the gathering and wished for the success of this seminar. He further said that the engineers of Indian Railways are among the best engineers in the world and whenever a complex project has to be carried out in the country, the Railways comes to mind. He also elaborated that railways are the mode of transport for the poor and middle class as well as the general public. In such a situation, how we bring new technology, new facilities and innovations related to the tracks becomes crucial. 

In his address as the Chief Guest, Anil Kumar Khandelwal, Member Infrastructure, Railway Board, Indian Railways said that the Indian Railways is rapidly moving towards development in which the priority is to rapidly build modern track structure, ROB and RUB and give them a concrete shape in the planning of new railway corridors. Indian Railways is one of the largest rail networks in the world, where 2 crore passengers and 5 million tonnes of cargo are transported daily and 20,000 trains are run daily connecting 8000 railway stations. It is not only the lifeline of the country but also the backbone of the country's economy. Indian Railways plays an important role in making the country a developed nation by 2047, in which the target has been set to expand the network and transport 3000 million tonnes of goods by 2030. He also said that safety should always be our first priority and we should always keep in mind the slogan of ‘Safety First Always First’.

At the inauguration of the seminar, the distinguished guests lit the lamp. The topics chosen for this year's seminar include fast construction of ROB and RUB so that level crossings can be removed. Important topics like discussing successful case studies on fast track delivery of projects are also included. Also taking into consideration, the elevated corridors projects (including elevated stations) which have the possibility of speeds of 250 kmph are also included. These points are contemporary and important at present, on which technical discussions will be held during this seminar. This seminar will help in making better strategies on the technical problems and aspects that come up during daily work and also in their implementation.

The seminar was attended by IPWE Chairman and Additional Member (Civil Engineering), Railway Board, Brijesh Gupta, Director General of IRICEN Pune, S K Jha, Vice President and Principal Executive Director (Bridge), Railway Board,  Ravindra Goyal, General Secretary, Principal Chief Engineer of Northern Railway, B.P. Singh, other officers of this organisation and Divisional Railway Manager of Ahmedabad Division  Sudhir Kumar Sharma and senior railway engineers from various railways across the country.