New Delhi: Railway Minister Ashwini Vashinaw on Tuesday released the Indian Railway Construction Manual that addresses all issues a project could face from its conceptualising phase to completion.
With its release at the Rail Bhawan here, the manual came into effect
"The construction manual will help in many activities, including land acquisition, forest clearance, bridge design, contract management, tunnel construction and road flyover/under bridges. This manual would help us become the world's fastest growing rail network," Vaishnaw said.
He added that the work manuals in use earlier have completed their utility. The new handbook of instructions is "in a new form, new shape and a new language in tune with our times", Vaishnaw said.
The minister appreciated the efforts of R N Sunkar, former member (infrastructure) of the Railway Board in bringing out the manual. Sunkar along with a team of officials had begun work on it during his service in the railways.
"I will call this manual Bhagavad Gita for the railways. The epic book has 18 chapters and this manual also has 18 chapters. It has answers to all issues involved in starting a project till it is being finished," Sunkar, who was present at the event, said.
He added that "for instance, how to resolve environmental issues while constructing a railway project across a forest area? In the manual, we have guidelines which are in sync with environmental norms so that infrastructure works do not get delayed or stuck".
Sunkar also said that the manual comes with modern means of surveying an area.
"While earlier there were manual means to conduct surveys, now we are using drones and other modern equipment. We need standardised procedures for all these things which we have addressed in the 'Indian Railway Construction Manual'," Sunkar said.