Southern Railway’s Signal & Telecommunication Workshop at Podanur has been awarded the prestigious Integrated Management Systems (IMS) Certification. The certification has been granted by LMS Certification Ltd, United Kingdom, an esteemed International Forum functioning under the International Accreditation Service (IAS), USA and a member of International Accreditation Forum, Inc. (IAF).
Signal & Telecommunication Workshop, Podanur is the first among similar Workshops across the Nation including the Railway Workshops to have achieved this remarkable feat. Also, it is the only entity under the Indian Railways to acquire all the Five Certifications integrated to Management System (IMS) such as :
1. Quality Management System – ISO 9001:2015,
2. Environment Management System – ISO 14001:2015,
3. Occupational Health and Safety Management System – ISO 45001:2018,
4. Energy Management System – ISO 500001:2018 and
5. Food safety Management System – ISO 22000:2018
The 62 year old Workshop has evolved as a premier institution in the field of Signaling and Telecommunications by adopting cutting-edge technologies in ensuring safety of train movements and ensuring optimization of line capacity. The Workshop has achieved several milestones in the field of modernization of Signalling Systems to cater the needs of the ever expanding railway organization.
The Signal & Telecom Workshop of Southern Railway, which was functioning as a small Repair Unit at Golden Rock / Tiruchchirappalli was shifted to Podanur on 09.04.1958 with a staff strength of 60. The major shift in the Workshop’s activities from Repair and Overhauling of the Signal & Telecommunication Equipments to the manufacturing sphere happened over the years from 1968 to 1977 with the expansion of infrastructure and in-house development of new Signalling Products viz. Electrical Signal Machine, Electrical Signal Reverser, SGE Type Double Line Block Instrument, Single Line Token Less Block Instrument, Combined Type GRS 5E Point Machine, etc. With the manufacturing of vital Signalling Relays, this Workshop became the supplier to the entire Indian Railways. In the year 1978, this Workshop started production of Electronic Axle Counters and in the year 1995-96, this Workshop started the production of Universal Axle Counters and IRS Rotary Locking Type Point Machine as per the design of RDSO, LUCKNOW. This Workshop is set to manufacture Single Section Digital Axle Counters and Universal Fail Safe Block Interfaces also.
Integrated Management Systems
An Integrated Management System (IMS) combines all aspects of an organisation’s systems, processes and Standards into one smart system. This merger allows a business to streamline its management, save time and increase efficiency by addressing all elements of the management system as a whole.