Research wings of railways cut to size

SRESTHA closed; 32 directorates merged to form 7 verticals

Going ahead with its downsizing plan, the Indian Railways has announced the closure of the Special Railway Establishment for Strategic Technology and Holistic Advancement (SRESTHA), Lucknow.

Established in March 2016, the SRESTHA directorate, part of the Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO), was tasked with the role of taking up long-term railway research projects requiring technological advancement.

As part of the restructuring plan, the railways also decided to merge 32 Directorates of the RDSO and brought them under seven verticals — Administration, Infrastructure, Rolling Stock, Traction and Power Supply, Signal and Telecommunication, Resource and Testing and Traffic and Psychology.

It was also notified that the Geotech Engineering Directorate would be merged with the Track and Bridges & Structures Directorate. The establishment of Principal Executive Director, Defence Research, at the Defence Research and Development Organisation, New Delhi, was detached from the RDSO.

The railways also proposed to create new posts in the rank of Executive Director, Design, to be posted at the Integral Coach Factory, Chennai, Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala and Modern Coach Factory, Raebareli, under the Railway Board’s Rolling Stock Directorate. The creation of the top ranking posts assumes significance in the backdrop of the decision to roll out more than 200 Vande Bharat rakes at an estimated cost of ₹26,000 crore.

The restructuring plan of the country’s largest employer and transporter which is resulting in the closure or merger of major establishments and private participation in running hospitals and schools is in line with the recommendations of the Principal Economic Adviser Sanjeev Sanyal for Rationalisation of Government Bodies.

In his proposal for the Minister of Railways, Mr. Sanyal called for the winding up of organisations like the Central Organisation for Railway Electrification (CORE), the Central Organisation for Modernisation Of Workshops (COFMOW), the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) and the Indian Railways Organisation for Alternative Fuel (closed on September 7, 2021).