Indian Railway Conference Association

Indian Railway Conference Association

History

The Indian Railway Conference Association (IRCA) came into existence in the year 1902. At that time railway network in India consisted of 19 privately owned separate railways systems covering a total of 8,475 miles (13,640 km). Each company had formulated its own rules and regulations regarding charging, booking and carriage of Passengers and Goods. Due to multiplicity of rules the user was very much inconvenienced. With a view to overcome the difficulties in regard to different rules and regulations and to frame rules regarding movement of wagons of one railway system over the other, the Indian Railway Conference Association was formed in the year 1902. Initially the Association was constituted to frame rules and regulations for booking of traffic and interchange of trains between railways, to act as a consultative Committee and as a Board of Arbitration.

Subsequently the Committees for prescribing common standards for wagon maintenance and Classification were formed and by 1926 it was decided to have permanent Committees and Technical sections covering all spheres of Railway working under IRCA , consisting of the following:

• Mechanical Engineering Committee.
• Electrical Engineers Committee
• Civil Engineering Committee
• Signal Engineering Committee
• Metallurgical & Chemical Engineering Committee.

1911 Meeting Photograph

Indian Railway Conference Association 1911 Sept

Photograph courtesey Mike Muirhead June 2016