History
To enforce standardization and coordination between various railway systems in British India, the Indian Railway Conference Association (IRCA) was set up in 1902. It was followed by the establishment of the Central Standards Office (CSO) in 1930, for the preparation of designs, standards, and specifications. However, before India's independence in 1947, most design and manufacture of railway equipment was entrusted to foreign consultants. After independence, the Railway Testing and Research Centre (RTRC) was set up in 1952 at Lucknow, for undertaking the intensive investigation of railway problems, providing basic criteria and new concepts for design purposes, testing prototypes, and generally assisting in finding solutions for specific problems.
In 1957, the Central Standards Office (CSO) and the Railway Testing and Research Centre (RTRC) were integrated into a single unit named Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) under the Ministry of Railways with its headquarters at Manak Nagar, Lucknow. The status of RDSO was changed from an "attached office" to a "zonal railway" on 1 January 2003, to give it greater flexibility and a boost to the research and development activities.
Organisation
RDSO is headed by the director general, who is equivalent to the general manager of a zonal railway. The present director general is . The director general is assisted by an additional director general and 23 senior executive directors and executive directors, who are in charge of the 27 directorates: Bridges and Structures, Carriage, Geotechnical Engineering, Testing, Track Design, Medical, EMU & Power Supply, Engine Development, Finance & Accounts, Telecommunication, Quality Assurance, Personnel, Works, Psycho-Technical, Research, Signal, Wagon Design, Electric Locomotive, Stores, Track Machines & Monitoring, Traction Installation, Energy Management, Traffic, Metallurgical & Chemical, Motive Power and Library & Publications. All the directorates except Defence Research are located in Lucknow.
