The Centre for Railway Research (CRR) was set up in 2015 to develop a long-term framework for research collaboration between the Government of India, Ministry of Railways and the Institute. Indian Railways, the national railway system operated by the Ministry of Railways, deemed it necessary to make use of the technological advancements in the field of Railway Technology – for the improvement of the quality of service, productive utilisation of the rail infrastructure, as well as safety and cost efficiency.
The Centre carries out research related to structural health monitoring of railway infrastructure (rails, bridges, engines, wagons/coaches, electrical, stations) by embedded intelligence, intelligent transportation, computer vision & imaging technologies, advanced techniques for trains control and Communication. It also works on indicative areas such as decision sciences, alternate engine propulsion technologies, reliability engineering, energy management, advanced materials technologies, advanced joining technologies, and non-destructing testing & evaluation. The Research Programme groups comprise of Professors and faculty members from IIT Madras along with officers from Railways.