Focus to boost R&D activities in Railways

The Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO), a research and development body of the Railways, has been given the status of a zonal railway to give a focused boost to the research and development activities of the Railways.

Reorganisation of RDSO had been done so that specific group of engineers were assigned solely to R&D activities, an official release said. This would give more flexibility at the local level and other activities like inspection and vendor development have been separated as quality assurance group.

Besides, the Central Board of Railways Research has been reconstituted giving a greater role to the Railways related industries and IITs. The Railways has sanctioned a test track for RDSO at a cost of Rs 87.3 crore for speeding up trials and testing connected with R&D activities.

It will be used for testing all types of rolling stock, track components and signaling devices to optimise the designs. The RDSO had been developing and adapting new technologies to enhance safety and reliability in train operations.