Sr Rail Track Technologist
Free Lance Working
Total years of experience :40 years, 5 Months
Consultations of track matters; drafting track maintenance policies; advice on track component design, etc
The job in the capacity of Principal Head had the responsibilities of maintenance of entire track in civil engineering infrastructure of South Western Railway (Indian Railways) including entire planning of track machine deployment, track renewals, budgeting, entire human resource management for civil engineering department, periodical inspections including authorization of higher speed after opening of new sections by the regulatory body, bridge maintenance and rehabilitation, coordination among various department e.g. train operations, Signal and Telecommunication, Safety, Rolling Stock, Regulatory bodies, etc
The job had the responsibility of managing bridge engineering works and bridge work shops on Northern Railway (Indian Railways) as Principal Head of Bridge Organisation
Working as Executive Director Track -Modernisation, being responsible for all decision related to rail road track structure for concrete ties, fastenings system. Worked for adoption of wider sleeper and other improved track components on Indian Railways including procurement policy.
Responsible for formulation of draft track policy for Indian Railways related to Elastic Fastening elements, Mono block pre-stressed concrete ties, points and crossings, slab track, etc. including heading design team for these track elements; source development; planning, lab. evaluation and monitoring of field trials of new products; drafting specifications, maintenance instructions, etc. Responsible for scrutiny and clearance of designs for metro railways in India for issues pertaining to track elements; preparation of draft qualifying criteria for track structure, etc.
Responsible as head of Civil Design Wing of M/s RITES Ltd., Gurgaon, having a total workforce of 85 personnel, for functions of detailed design of rail cum road bridges; feasibility studies for bridges and tunnels; business development including tendering & contracts; arranging PMC for longest ongoing railway tunnel work in India; new recruitment, team building and administrative functions as Head.
Worked as Chief Track Expert for General Consultant for Airport Express Link, New Delhi for DMRC (Delhi Metro Rail Corporation), responsible for detailed consultancy on track form aspects e.g. fastening systems suitability for slab track capable of attenuating noise and vibrations; rails; welding; schedule of moving dimensions and other track related issues; Evaluation of Metro Rail Tenders; etc.
Responsible as head of construction wing at Hubli for construction of new lines, gauge conversion and doubling of track; station, service and residential building construction including planning, budgeting, contract management and quality control as a team leader. Job involved coordination with multiple agencies e.g. open line organisation, Commissioner of Railway Safety, State Govt., etc. In-charge for works of 93 kms of Gauge conversion involving over 200000 m3 of formation stabilisation work and construction of 12 x 30.5m PSC girder major bridge; construction of office and residential infrastructure involving developing over 20000 sqm and 10000 sqm of space, respectively.
Responsible for procurement of PSC sleepers and track fittings involving tendering, contract formulation, product inspection, quality assurance, supply management, etc involving total annual purchase of the order of Rs 200 Cr (~USD 50m). Achieved a record production of 0.67 million of PSC main line sleepers in 11 months of 2006-07.
As Head of Civil Department for Mumbai Divisional, was responsible for activities viz. track and civil infrastructure maintenance; planning of new works; budgeting; collaboration with local civil authorities; etc. on one of the world’s busiest suburban systems commuting over 2 million passengers daily. Besides achieving preordained targets of track renewal, deep screening, bridge rebuilding works, significant responsibility was to achieve reduction of rail/weld failures to the extent of 40%, on YOY basis as a result of frequent interaction and team motivation undertaken at grass root levels of maintenance organisation.
Advising Uzbek Railways (UTY) in the capacity of international expert for suitability of elastic fastening and concrete tie for track up-gradation between Tashkent & Samarkand. This was an ADB monitored assignment done through RITES Ltd. and completed to the satisfaction of UTY.
(From Oct.-Dec., 1999 & Sep.- Oct., 2002, total 3 months)
Responsible for formulation of draft Track Maintenance Instructions; Circulars; Safety Guide Lines; etc for track maintenance organization. Responsible for ensuring ultrasonic flaw detection & track recording car schedule for the whole central railway; implementation of rail road regulations in field establishments including verification through regular field visits.
Responsible for design and development of Elastic Fastening components e.g. Elastic Rail Clip, Glass Filled Nylon-66 insulating liners, rail pad, glued insulated joints etc. The job also involved vendor development for track fastenings, their laboratory & field evaluation, product inspection and quality assurance. Conceived, Designed and Developed improved toe load fastening system (ERC, Mk-V) for Indian Rlys. that has now been adopted on Indian Railways.
Responsible for procurement of PSC sleepers through Concrete sleeper plants under private sector including, tendering, assisting contract finalization, product inspection, quality assurance and supply management. Also handled secretarial and co-ordination work for Principal Chief Engineer at Zonal Head Quarter Level of Central Railway, Mumbai.
In-charge of maintenance of track and civil infrastructure, including rehabilitation of de-stressed track, for 218 km double line electrified high density trunk route between Bhusawal and Badnera of Central Railway. The work required intensive ballast and material planning, tendering and contract management and procurement. Job required optimal utilisation of speed restrictions and line block availability as during a time period of 15 months, an unprecedented progress of 110 kms of track relaying was achieved re-establishing stipulated track safety and reliability.
Assistant Engineer (probation) from June, 1988 to May, 19’90, taking institutional as well as field training in permanent way and managerial aspects. From June, ’90 onwards, functioned as regular Asstt. Engineer being responsible for maintenance of 80 kms of electrified heavy density passenger route track on all types of sleepers viz. wooden; Steel Trough, Cast Iron, PSC including rehabilitation of track with PSC sleepers. Also responsible for maintenance of Stations, Colonies and Yards including new construction works, being direct in-charge of work force of over 1500 personnel.
Worked in the capacity of Civil Engineer and the job involved construction and maintenance of roads, service buildings, oil field structures e.g. gas compressing stations, drilling rig foundations, etc. The job was challenging due to difficult field conditions and unfriendly weather in upper reaches of state of Assam, India.
Worked as Graduate Engineer Trainee with prime focus of learning to grow with the organizational objectives. The tasks performed included basic analysis of civil construction items for the purpose of global bidding; collaboration with HQs, Clients, Consultants; development of Quality Assurance Program for ongoing projects; etc.
The degree course was spanned into 8 semesters each of 6 months duration covering various subjects of civil engineering e.g. engineering drawing; surveying; mathematics; basic electronics and electrical engineering, chemistry; analysis and design of steel, RCC and PSC structures; hydraulics and river engineering; soil mechanics and foundation engineering; advanced mechanics and structure analysis; engineering geology; transportation engineering; etc. The course included two spells of industrial training one of 6 weeks and another of 11 weeks and one major project in the final semester .
The course is the final year of 10+2 years scheme of Govt. of India and consists of laboratory and class room training/education.