CSIR-SERC to come up with safeguards for railway bridges
They also installed devices in two bridges to absorb high-impact forces caused by increased speed and axle load, thereby reducing structural stress.
The guidelines aim to help railway engineers assess and strengthen both new and existing bridges to handle longitudinal forces generated when high-speed trains with heavier axle loads pass over them.
"Our guidelines will help evaluate the longitudinal force on the substructure of railway bridges, both steel and prestressed concrete, and suggest techniques to mitigate them.
This can be adopted for new constructions as well as upgrades," said N Anandavalli, director, CSIR-SERC, on the sidelines of a conference on Wednesday.
Following the studies, SERC installed shock transmission units (STUs) in a concrete bridge near Chidambaram and a steel bridge near Puttur, Andhra Pradesh. STUs are hydraulic devices that remain flexible under normal conditions but become rigid during sudden forces like braking or seismic activity, absorbing energy and protecting the structure.
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Earlier, Ravindra Kumar Goel, principal executive director (bridges), ministry of railways, noted that of the 1.6 lakh railway bridges in the country, 34,000 are more than 100 years old.
Both the speed of trains and their axle load increased over the years. Since 1903, the axle load alone increased by 33%. He was speaking at CSIR-SERC's Diamond Jubilee conference on Monitoring, Assessment and Predictive Maintenance of Critical Infrastructures (i-MAP 2025).
T Archunan, Director (Projects), Chennai Metro Rail Limited, pointed to the disconnect between India's research institutions and field implementation.
He stressed the need for institutes such as SERC and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) to align theoretical work with practical needs to improve execution and reduce reliance on foreign technology.
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