GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS RAILWAY BOARD No.2017/16/CE-II/BR/Girder inspection New Delhi, dt 25.05.2017 Principal Chief Engineer, Chief Administrative Officer (Construction) All Zonal Railways. All Zonal Railways Sub: Welders Qualification Test (WGI) procedure for fabrication of Steel Bridge Girders. On Indian Railways, steel girders being used are mostly welded steel girders (with boltediriveted connections) which are fabricated as per codal provisions of IRS welded bridge code and IRS B1-2001 (fabrication specifications). It is needless to mention that steel irders are required to be fabricated as per highest quality standards as they have direct bearing on safety. The quality of welders plays a very Important role in ensuring good quality of welding and hence good quality of steel girders. 2.0 Welders intended to be deployed on job are tested and qualified as per the provisions of IS: 7310 Part (Indian standards Approval tests for welders working to approved welding procedure) and qualification of the welder primarily depends upon the results (destructive and non destructive) of test welds only. However, these are bare minimum qualifying criteria, Now more advanced welding procedures like SMAW, FCAW, GMAW are being increasingly used. It is felt that the existing qualification criteria for steel girder fabrication need to be supplemented to make it more stringent so that good quality of welders can be ensured as more & more welded girders with advanced methods & for larger spans are being used. 3.0 Various codes / authorities for welder qualification e.g. ISO, IBR, DGCA etc. recommend/require that welders should have minimum educational qualification & training and demonstrate knowledge of welding process, materials, safety etc. through oral/written tests. Many of major bridges, where quality is of paramount importance, are built using Earo/BS-EN/American Codes. Even AWS, BS-EN Codes require similar qualification, 4.0 In view of above, in order to qualify the welders for steel girder fabrication, in addition to the provisions of IS: 7310 Part-I, following must be ensured by the zonal railways: (i) Welders to be engaged, in future, should at least be High School pass and preferably trained from ITI or a reputed welder Training institute. This provision of educational qualification shall not be applicable for the Welders already qualified & working satisfactorily. (ii) Oral and written test to be made mandatory for qualifying new welders. (ili) No welding by the fresh welders to be allowed till they get the Welder Qualification Test (WAQ1T) certificate Issued. If feasible, WOT certificate to be issued at site only. (iv) Incase of renewal of WOT certificate for the existing welders, the test procedure to be clearly specified. Besides the existing provisions, oral test and evaluation of records of welding be ineieted upon ‘ (Surinder Kaul) Adviser/Bridges Railway Board Copy for information and necessary action to: 4, Director General, RDSO, Lucknow. 2. CMDIRVNL, IRCON, DFCCIL, KRCL, RITES, 3. EDIB&S/RDSO, Luenow 4, CBEIAll Zonal Railways.