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.