Seminar on Prospects For Copper In Railways
Indian Copper Development Centre organized the above seminar on 8^th July, 2009 at Kolkata with an objective to assess copper’s prospects in Railways in terms of quality and quantity, and identify new opportunities in the use of copper and copper alloy products in the various systems and sub-systems of the Railway network. The Seminar was attended by more than 80 participants from India and abroad  representing various Railway organisations, refined copper producers, manufacturers and suppliers of copper based products to the Railways, companies engaged in joining of copper and copper alloy, etc.
	Sitting on the dais during inaugural session (L to R) : Mr. S. J. Kanal, Mr. S. C. Gupta, Dr. L. R. Vaidyanath, Dr. D. De Sarkar
Mr. S.C. Gupta, Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Hindustan Copper Ltd., inaugurated the seminar and delivered his inaugural address.  In his address, Mr. Gupta not only became nostalgic while remembering his long stint with the  Railways, but also stressed on the various uses of copper in Railways, growth of railways in the coming years and the resultant increase in the usage of copper products in this important end use sector.
	Mr. S. C. Gupta delivering his inaugural address
Mr. S.J. Kanal, Chairman, Shree Balaji Industrial Corporation welcomed the participants.  He emphasized on the need of this type of interactive seminar in developing close interaction between the manufacturers and suppliers of copper based products which ultimately helps both.
	Dr. S. K. Roy presenting his paper
Dr. L.R. Vaidyanath, President, Indian Copper Development Centre presided over the inaugural session of the seminar.  In his address he highlighted how the Centre is constantly updating and enlarging its activities to meet specific needs of end user industries and assisting the copper based industry in becoming globally competitive.  He also mentioned how “the copper industry can always have a sense of pride” for catering to the needs of a wide variety of copper and copper alloy products for Railways.  He stressed on  the need for analyzing certain areas where improvement of quality and economics are necessary to meet the challenges of technological upgradation taking place in the Indian Railways.
	Mr. Toshiyuki Cho presenting his paper
Dr. D. De Sarkar, Chief Executive Officer, Indian Copper Development Centre proposed the Vote of Thanks. The experts representing various units of Indian Railways, producer of refined copper, manufacturers of copper based products for the Railways, joining company made presentations during the three technical sessions of the seminar, chaired by Mr. R.C. Singla, Director (Mining), Hindustan Copper Ltd; Prof. P.J. Roychowdhury, Ex. Dean, Bengal Engineering College (presently BESU), Shibpur; and Mr. S.J. Kanal, respectively.
	A view of the audience
The papers submitted for presentation were : · Copper Conductors for Railway Traction Application by Margoob Hussain, Research Designs & Standards Organisation, Lucknow · Copper Applications at CLW by H. Malhotra and B. P. Sadhu, Chittaranjan Locomotive Works, Chittaranjan · Use of Copper and Copper Alloy Products on Diesel Locomotives by Atulya Sinha, Diesel Locomotive Works, Varanasi · Copper in Railway Electrification Installations by Anup Kumar and Veena Sinha, Central Organisation for Railway Electrification, Allahabad · Use of Copper in Indian Railway Coaches by L. M. Sahore, Integral Coach Factory, Chennai · Initiative taken by HCL to Meet the Requirement of Contact Wire for Railways by A. K. Sarkar and Awadhesh Kumar, Hindustan Copper Ltd., Taloja · Introduction of Mitsubishi Materials Corporation’s Products for Railway Market   by Toshiyuki Cho, Masato Koide and Nobukuni Morohashi, Mitsubishi Materials Corporation, Japan · Oxygen Free Grain Refined (OFGR®) Copper & Copper Alloys for Railway Application by Mukul Gupta, Dr. S. K. Roy and Aloke Chakravarty, Chandra Proteco Ltd., Silvassa · Copper Conductors for Traction Motors for Railways by K.K. Puranik, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd., Bhopal · Copper Cables and Conductor in Indian Railways  by Dr. S. Roy, P. K. Palit, M. Banerjee, A. Choudhury and Dr. R. Bhattacharyya, Nicco Corporation Ltd., Shyamnagar, West Bengal · Joining Techniques : Soldering, Brazing and Welding of Copper and its Alloys by Dr. Ranen Dutta, Chemmetals, Kolkata · Manufacture of Short Circuit Rings for Traction Motors by Sumit Dhody, Mipalloy, Chennai
	One of the interactive sessions in progress
Very lively discussions took place at the end of each technical session when the authors of the above papers answered the questions raised by the audience. At the end of the third technical session there was a concluding session when the audience interacted with Dr. D. De Sarkar and  Mr. S.J. Kanal expressing their views on the proceedings of the day.
	Display of products
Four companies namely, Hindustan Copper Limited, Mitsubishi Materials Corporation, Hitec Smiley and Vanaz Engineers Ltd., also displayed their products and product brochure which were highly appreciated by the participants.
	Display of products