“MIS FOR CIVIL ENGINEERING IN INDIAN RAILWAY”

PROJECT REPORT SUBMITTED TOWARDS PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF POST GRADUATE DIPLOMA IN

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

(Approved by AICTE, Govt. of India)(Equivalent to MBA)

ACADEMIC SESSION2007-09

Under the Guidance of: Submitted By: Miss Anegha Shukre Faculty of MIS IMS GHAZIABAD Aditya kumar(10) Amandeep gaur(14)

Amit kumar(16)

Ankit kumar(23)

Anoop kumar singh(30)

Ashish mishra(42)

Bheeshm Bhardwaj(47)

Deepak varshney(52)

Devesh varshney(55) Aradhna Singh

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

A single person alone can never be credited for performing any extraordinary work

successfully. It is only possible with the continuous and constant help and guidance

that they receive from others and team members.

With due respect and regards we wish to express our deep sense of gratitude,

indebtedness and sincere phrases of thanks to Miss. Anegha Shukrae, for her

invaluable mentoring and exuberant guidance.

We are highly obliged by the constant support that we have got from my faculty in the

project .Starting from the initial stages to the end stages we have received continuous

feedback with regard to the progress of the project.

Finally we would say that this project has helped discover ourself. we could decipher

that we had talents unknown to ourself.

Thank you, once again.

Aditya kumar(10)

Amandeep gaur(14)

Amit kumar(16)

Ankit kumar(23)

Anoop kumar singh(30)

Ashish mishra(42)

Bheeshm Bhardwaj(47)

Deepak varshney(52)

Devesh varshney(55)

Aradhana singh

TO WHOM SOEVER IT MAY CONCERN

This is to certify that we student of PGDBM (Full Time) 2007-2009 batch, IMS

Ghaziabad, has done his project under my supervision and guidance.

During his project he was found to be very sincere and attentive to small details

whatsoever was told to him.

I wish him good luck and success in his future

Miss. Anegha ShukraeFaculty of MISIMS Ghaziabad

MIS FOR CIVIL ENGINEERING ACTIVITIES

 

The application development for the MIS for the Civil Engineering activities are

taken up in 2 parts – one at CR and the other at NR

 

RAILWAYWISE SCOPE OF DEVELOPMENT

 

Central Railway Northern Railway

Buildings and Other structures Track and Bridges

Contract Management ** Land and Planning

 

** Contract Management module will be taken up by Central Railway as part of

customisation of the Integrated Project Managemnent System (IPMS) being developed by

CAO/Construction, Southern Railway.

PART I – CENTRAL RAILWAY

 

INTRODUCTION

 

A comprehensive Management Information System pertaining to Buildings and Other

Structures for Engineering Department has been developed as a pilot project on Central

Railway. The Application is being implemented on IOW(Jr.Engg.) / Byculla of Mumbai

Division and is under testing. The Application is also ready for implementation on other

sites of IOWs of Mumbai Division. While developing the application, the input data has

been designed based on various formats prevalent in Depots, Divisions and Hqs so as to

generate reports for Division, Hqs and Railway Board.

 

MAIN OBJECTIVE AND FEATURES OF THE APPLICATION:

 

      Stream lines the procedure of data collection.

      Capture data at the point of origin, i.e. at the Supervisor location.

      Maintain the centralized data base at Divisional as well as Head Quarters level.

      Generate information for efficient management at various levels.

      Provide on-line availability of up-to-date information at various levels.

      Assess cost of each activity to arrive at optimum solutions.

      Assist in moving towards paper-less or at least less-paper office.

 

 

BUILDINGS AND OTHER STRUCTURES MODULES OF CENTRAL

RAILWAY:

 

1. ASSET MANAGEMENT

 

To capture details of various Assets like Residential Buildings, Service Buildings,

Platforms, Bridges, Washing Sidings, Water Supply, Drainage System, Roads & Pathways,

Boundary Wall etc. under the control of IOW-in-charge. This information will help the

administration to consolidate the information at sub-divisional, divisional and HQ levels.

Details of Action Plan for activity-wise major repairs to Staff Quarters and expenditure

incurred on a day-to-day basis can be recorded and reports generated. This will also help in

planning and monitoring the various repairs by seeing the past history of the structures.

 

2. MAINTENANCE AND MONITORING OF SANCTIONED WORKS

 

This will provide details of expenditure incurred on zonal contracts, revenue special

contracts on a yearly basis. There is a provision to maintain expenditure towards wages,

materials, contracts and other activities on a periodic basis. There is a monthly report

bringing out the details of quarters attended by the Directed Building Maintenance of

buildings. Report can be generated relating to progress of various works with present

status, target date of completion and activity-wise expenditure at divisional, HQ levels for

taking administrative decisions.

 

3. COMPLAINTS

 

This module assists in computerizing the recording, monitoring and redressal of complaints

and in standardizing the information for proper consolidation and reporting. The basic

objective is to minimize duplication of work. This will help in monitoring the efforts

required on a monthly basis for all the complaints received and attended, along with the

details of labour and material cost involved. This will also highlight the time taken for

attending complaints – category-wise - which is expected to assist in optimising time and

effort.

 

4. INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

 

The various stocks and non-stock items received and issued by the IOW depots including

generation of requisition and issue notes. The Material-at-Site (MAS) position can be

obtained on-line to take administration decisions for procurement / transfer of materials. It

is proposed to interface this Inventory Management module with the Material Management

Information System, at a later stage..

 

5. INSPECTION SCHEDULE / REPORT

 

This module provides for inspection schedules as laid down at different levels for

inspection of the various assets pertaining to IOWs.(Jr. Engg.) Provision has been made in

this module for capture of details of inspections done against each of the items of the

schedule. It also captures the expenditure incurred as a result of defects observed during

inspection and action taken thereafter.

 

PART II – NORTHERN RAILWAY

 

 

The MIS application allotted to Northern Railway are being implemented in Delhi area of

Delhi Division and Northern Railway Headquarter. After successful implementation these

are to be ported to other Divisions and Railways.

 

FUNCTIONALITY OF APPLICATION

Track Modules : The application has been designed to work as a centralised

application and all the sub modules are integrated with each other. However, one

of the sub-modules of asset management is the fundamental module, the data of

which are being utilized by the other sub-modules in running their applications.

Entries in the application are to be made by PWIs from field, Engg control and

PWI/Plg from division.

 

Bridges Modules: This application is to be implemented in the offices of

IOWs, PWIs, BRIs, AENs, ABEs, Dy CBE/line, Division and HQ. The application is

predominantly centralised except that BRIs will have their own database, which will

update the central server in batch mode.

 

Land and Planning Modules: This application also has a Centralised

database and is designed for use by IOWs, PWIs, Divisional and Hqs land cells.

HARDWARE:

Availablity of PCs in the offices of PWIs, IOWs, BRIs, AENs and also in divisional

and HQs offices atleast to a limited extent is crucial for implementation of the

various modules of all the MIS applications - Track, Bridges, Land and planning.

However it is not necessary to provide separate PCs for diffferent applications. It

will be possible to run the different applications from the same PC. For example

one PC with PWI-in-charge will be sufficient for running all four application

CENTRE FOR RAILWAY INFORMATION SYSTEMS (CRIS)

In 1982, Government conceived a project for analyzing a Freight Operations Information

Systems (FOIS) with Railways Subsequently in 1986, Ministry of Railways established the

CENTRE FOR RAILWAY INFORMATION SYSTEMS (CRIS), Chanakya Puri, New

Delhi - 21 to be an umbrella organization for all computer activities on Indian Railways

(IR).They also entrusted it with the task of design, development and implementation of the

FOIS, along with its associated communications infrastructure. The Centre started

functioning from July, 1987.It is a registered society having an autonomous status and

headed by Managing Director .CRIS is mainly a project oriented organization engaged in

development of major computer systems on the Railways. Our presence across the country

gives us global reach and a vast rollout support capability. Together with our formidable

team of high-caliber software professionals we have successfully positioned ourselves at

the vanguard of the global IT service s revolution. With such a rich practical experience, a

dedicated team of professionals and its own R&D effort, CRIS aims to be a leader in this

fast developing field. CRIS provides consulting and IT services to Indian Railways - as

partners to conceptualize and realize technology driven business transformation initiatives.

With over 200 employees nationwide, we use a low-risk Delivery Model to accelerate

schedules with a high degree of time and cost predictability. We provide solutions for a

dynamic environment where business and technology strategies converge.

Our approach focuses on new ways of business combining IT innovation and adoption

while also leveraging an organization's current IT assets. We work with Indian Railways to

build new products or services and to implement prudent business and technology

strategies in today's dynamic digital environment.

The railways were introduced in the country in 1853 by the British almost immediately

after it appeared in England. From a modest beginning of 53 kms between Mumbai and

Thane, the railways have made a long journey and emerged as the principal mode of

transport in the country. After Independence, the railways of the country were totally

integrated and brought under the unified management of the Railway Board. Today, the

Indian Railways (IR) has a network spread over 63,000 route kms. and 7000 stations

throughout the length and breadth of the country. It carries 12 million passengers and more

than 1.2 million tonnes of freight daily, accounting roughly for 40 per cent of the freight

and 2- per cent of the passenger traffic in the country.

These figures, however, mask the true significance of IR’s role in the Indian economy

which is crucially dependent on it for transport requirements of the core sectors, long-

distance travel of the people from one far corner of the country to another and suburban

travel. IR also accounts for 8.5 per cent of the organised employment of the country either

directly or indirectly.

In line with the massive growth of population and the pressure generated by economic

growth, Indian Railways has had to deal with mountry demands in the face of declining

resources to build adequate capacity. It has acquitted itself creditably. Transport output of

both passenger and freight traffic in terms of net tonne/passenger kilometre has increased

six-fold since Independence with only marginal addition to route kilometre and rolling

stock. The Indian Railways has also been continuously upgrading its systems to work out

appropriate technological and managerial solutions for the problems peculiar to our

country. In the midst of these challenges the Indian Railways has managed to earn an

operating surplus year after year – a rare feat considering that most of the railway systems

elesewhere – both in the developed and developing country – have failed to keep

themselves above water.

If one has to list our all the achievements of the Indian Railways in terms of growth of

physical output or improvements in efficiency indices, which are impressive by any

reckoning, or its response to natural calamities as a national carrier and its role as an agent

of socio-economic development, it will run into several pages. However some of the

achievements stand out for their sheet impact in strengthening the nation and improving the

lives of the citizens.

The partition that followed Independence had traumatic consequences for the railway

systems of the North-East. The pre-partition railways had linked the North-East and the

present-day Bangladesh as an organic whole. Partition resulted in complete severance of

this logical link. The truncated network of the North-East stood woefully incomplete and

unconnected. The Indian Railways addressed this problem immediately and in right

earnest. The Assam Rail Link project was completed in 1950 providing a meter gauge

(MG) rail link to Assam. But the journey involved transhipment and ferry crossing both for

passengers and for freight. The broad gauge (BG) link was extended in phases to Guwahati

between 1965 and 1985. Two massive bridges on the mighty Branhmaputra at Kamakhya

and Jogighopa and later extension of a BG link up to Dibrugarh and Lekhapani finally

made it possible to travel to the North-East undisturbed. The North-east has now been truly

integrated with the rest of the country.

The Indian Railways continues to accord high priority to the area. A programme has been

chalked out to remove the few remaining bottlenecks by doubling/gauge conversion of the

existing metre gauge route, Katihar – New Jalpaiguri – Guwahati, and providing

connection to the seven sistem States.

COMFORTABLE TRAVEL

At the time of Independence passengers on the Indian Railways could avail of three classes

in all the trains, namely, I class, II class and III class. The berths in the 2nd and 3rd classes

consisted of wooden bunkers. There was no concept of advance reservation. If a passenger

who travelled in the 50’s and did not travel in the intervening period were to take a train

ride today, he will be amazed by the cumulative improvements brought about in this area.

The concept of reservation for the first class and later for the second class was introduced

with no or little addition to the fares. During the ‘70s the thrid class was abolished

altogether and the berths in the second class (including third class upgraded as second

class) were cushioned. The Integral Coach Factory at Perambur (Tamilnadu) and the newly

set up Rail Coach Factory at Kapurthala in Punjab significantly contributed to the

redesigning of second class and sleeper coaches for better passenger comfort. These two

coach factories also helped the Indian Railways introduce AC2 tier/AC 3 tier and AC Chair

Car on virtually all trains throughout the country to enable passengers to travel in comfort

at an affordable cost. AC 2-tier was introduced as a replacement for 1st class because of its

larger capacity and better comfort in terms of insulation from noise, heat and dust.

However, since the fare for AC 2-tier was beyond the reach of many passengers, the Indian

Railways introduced AC 3 tier, to bring air-conditioned travel without the reach of the

masses. Similar considerations dictated the introduction of AC Chair Car.

The Indian Railways started introducing the prestigious Rajdhani and Shatabdi services

during the ‘70s and ‘80s respectively or to match the best in the world. The Rajdhanis

connect various state capitals to Delhi while the Shatabdis provide superfast services

between the major cities of the country. These trains have not only broken the speed

barriers of 100 kmph by routinely attaining speeds of 130 kmph but they have also set up

new standards in catering and onboard services.

TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS

The Indian Railways has always been in the forefront of development and utilisation of

appropriate technologies for rail transport in the country. They have an exclusive Research,

Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) dealing with all aspects of technology

relating to rail transport. Immediately after Independence the thrust was on building

indigenous capabilities for meeting the requirements of locomotives, coaches and other

rolling stock for meeting the ever-increasing needs of traffic. Starting with Chittaranjan

Locomotive Works (CLW) at Chittaranjan and the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) at

Perambur, today Indian Railways has the Rail Coach Factory at Kapurthala, the Diesel

Locomotive Works (DLW) at Varanasi, the Wheel & Axle Plant at Bangalore, and the

Diesel Component Works at Patiala, where the emphasis has been to absorb and assimilate

the latest in rail transport technology adopted to suit the unique Indian requirements. CLW

which had started with the manufacture of steam locos has now totally switched over to the

manufacture of state-of-the-art electric locomotives with transfer of technology.

The Indian Railways was the first in the country to introduce computers in a big way in

batch processing applications of pay roll, inventory control and accounting. Also, over and

above the Passenger Reservation System and advanced Passenger Information Systems

they are in the process of developing an integrated Management Information System

covering the entire network. A Long Range Decision Support System providing for

scenario building and ‘what-if’ analysis for investment planning has also been developed

and is being utilised for investment planning and decision making.

Modern signalling systems using solid state interlocking auxiliary warning systems for

enhancing and ensuring safety, heavier rails, concrete sleepers, elastic fastenings, long span

bridges in pre-stressed concrete, improvements in overhead electric traction, use of

information technology in all area of railway working etc. are the other areas where Indian

railways are utilising modern technology to meet the combined needs of traffic and safety.

GIVING AN I.T. BOOST TO INDIAN RAILWAYS

Faiz Askari reports on the various initiatives that CRIS has chalked out for the Indian

Railways

The Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) has come a long way since 1986.

With a team of professionals and R&D efforts, CRIS aims to be a leader in this transport

segment.

Describing CRIS’ focus is M R Ramakrishnan, Managing Director of CRIS. “The centre

was started mainly because certain issues needed to be tackled separately, maybe with the

use of information technology. But the major concern was to avoid duplication of effort by

individual railway boards, and to ensure standardisation of IT hardware and software on the

railways.”

Apart from this, CRIS was set up to cater to the need for developing computer applications

for the railways. This included the need for developing expertise in highly specialised

fields like operations research, simulation, expert systems, CAD/CAM and process control.

CRIS also has to adjust to the need for greater flexibility to keep pace with changing

technology.

Though the bulk of the activities are being handled by CRIS, on a project-to-project basis

the organisation does take the help of professionals from TCS, Wipro, IBM and HP.

That IT has become an integral part of CRIS can be seen from the various initiatives that

the body plans to take in the coming years. The total IT budget of CRIS for the year 2006-

07 is Rs 350 crore, where the focus will be on upgrading the existing technology and

infrastructure, and implementing newer tools and techniques for building IT infrastructure.

Four-pronged focus

Online ticketing

Web-enabled services

Building an IT application that can

reflect the existing business

performance

Shift towards data mining from data

warehousing

With India becoming an IT hub, it was natural for the PSUs and government to sit up and

take notice. Agrees Ramakrishnan, “It is a paradigm shift for Indian Railways, with the

thrust given to building, sustaining and improving IT infrastructure. Earlier, IT was only a

management tool... now it is evolving into a good business process tool.”

Ramakrishnan believes that this change was bound to come about with the growing

competition from the rest of the transport industry. The Indian Railways understood this

competitive market scenario too. “Thus, to continue our leadership position in the market,

we needed to have a flexible business process for which the customers’ confidence was

essential. The best way to achieve this was through IT.”

Describing the present focus of CRIS, Ramakrishnan states, “We are aggressively building

business process applications through IT tools and techniques.”

Smart cards in the offing

There are several plans and schemes that CRIS has for enhancing the railway experience.

One such new initiative is issuing smart cards and deploying kiosks for ticketing.

Talking about these initiatives Ramakrishnan says, “We want to create a customer loyalty

programme. We plan to introduce smart cards for passengers who travel frequently via

Indian Railways. With these smart cards, customers can buy tickets at kiosks. We are

confident of starting the first phase of the smart cards project within this fiscal year.”

The first phase of the smart cards project will cover around 200 locations including metros.

The budget for the first phase is between Rs 6 crore to Rs 7 crore for 2006.

RFID for wagon and consignment racking

Indian Railways is not only the nation’s preferred means of transport, but it is also the

biggest freight and courier transporter. It plans to use RFID for tracking wagons and

consignments. This would also help the user to know whether their consignments have

actually reached. For the pilot phase of this RFID technology, the budget is between Rs 2

crore to Rs 3 crore.

In wagon fleet tracking, CRIS plans to have an RFID chip-embedded in all wagons and

provide sheds that would read these chips and register data. After the implementation, the

details can be fed into the Indian Railways’ freight operating information system to help

track wagons accurately.

Ramakrishnan explains further. “We are going to start a pilot project of the integrated

information system using RFID technology. In our existing infrastructure, we have data

loggers who receive the information of any train that passes a station. These loggers then

send that information to the divisional control office.”

What CRIS has done is integrate all this information process through RFID technology.

With this technology, the customer and railway official will both be aware of train

movements. “We have also planned to display this information in the coaches of that

particular train as well, so that the passengers will also benefit from the technology,” he

adds.

Projects in the pipeline

Building international standard data

centres

An enterprise payment gateway

Coaching operations, parcel

management, control office and crew

management system

BI and data warehousing for the

Passenger Reservation System, FOIS

and Unreserved Ticketing System

Disaster recovery for business critical

systems—FOIS, PRS, UTS and

COIS.

Multi-faceted potential

On CRIS’ competencies and potential, Ramakrishnan comments, “CRIS has a large pool of

experienced and competent professionals with expertise in the entire range of engineering

functions delivering turnkey solutions 24x7.”

More than just doing engineering work, CRIS also offers services which include

consultancy and project management for system analysis and design; solutions architecture;

IT infrastructure including networks and data centres; TCO analysis for technology

evaluations; server and storage sizing, installation and commissioning; operation support

and maintenance; channelling product licencing/OE spares; migration/re-engineering of

legacy systems; business intelligence; data warehousing and disaster recovery.

CRIS has also established a countrywide communication infrastructure for Indian

Railways. The centre also provides onsite and offsite training in development and

management of information system.

Getting better

Ramakrishnan concludes by saying that his team will continue to strive for better and faster

results for Indian Railways and its customers. “We are happy to see ourselves in this

position, but with a slight change in our focus, we will sustain our leadership in the Indian

travel and transport secto

APPLICATION OF IT AND COMPUTERS IN RAILWAYS

ABSTRACT:

Indian Railways (IR) is the principal mode of surface transport in the country. Realizing the

important role that Information Technology plays in Railways Operations, IR had

embarked on its Computerization Program, earlier than many other organizations in the

country. Towards the end of 60's, the plan to progressively computerize Railways was

accepted in principle by Management and the Labor Unions. After the early introduction of

Basic Computer Applications e.g. Pay rolls, Inventory Control and Operating Statistics,

Railways went for deployment of Computers for Productivity Improvement and

implemented computerization of Passenger Reservation System, developing a Freight

Operations Information System, Unreserved Ticketing System, development of Railway’s

own computer network called RAILNET, Management Information System and many

more other applications.

NEED FOR IT IN RAILWAYS

Indian Railways (IR) is the principal mode of Transport in the country. IR today has 62,660

route km of Rail Track and the total Investment has been Rs. 356.2 Billion. The Traffic is

carried with the help of over 7,000 Locomotives and 300,000 Wagons. IR's network has

7,050 Railway Stations and its employees number a little over 1.3 million. Over the last

four and half decades, the Freight transport has increased by about 5.75 times and

Passenger output by about 4.2 times. Among the BG routes, the six corridors connecting

the four major Metropolises and the two Diagonals comprising 15.8% of total network

carry in excess of 56% of the total freight transport output and 47% of passenger traffic,

thereby causing serious congestion on the golden quadrilateral. The perennial constraint of

resources has adversely affected Railway's development resulting in diversion of traffic

from rail to road at an overall higher cost to the economy. As Railways stare into the not so

rosy future, the alternative is the Information Technology tool.

Realizing the important role that Information plays in Railways Operations, IR had

embarked on its Computerization Program, earlier than many other organizations in the

country. Towards the end of 60's, IR could realize its potential advantage and the plan to

progressively computerize Railways was accepted in principle by Management and the

Labor Unions. Secondly, IR developed a dedicated skeletal Communication Network, as a

basic requirement for Train Operation. After the early introduction of Basic Computer

Applications e.g. Pay rolls, Inventory Control and Operating Statistics, Railways went for

deployment of Computers for Productivity Improvement through building up operational

databases. Later on, IR decided on

Computerization of the Passenger Reservation Arrangement.

Developing a Freight Operations Information System.

Replacing the existing Computers at the Zonal Railways and Production Units with the

State-of-the-art Computer systems enabling the organization to computerize more

applications.

Provision of Computers at Divisions, New Production units, Workshops, Sheds and

Depots and Training Institutes.

Quantum improvement in the use of Computers in the offices.

USE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN RAILWAY

Passenger Amenities Areas

PRS UTS IVRS NTES

Freight & Train Management system (FOIS)

FOIS TMS COIS RMS

Networking

RAILNET Office LAN Intranet

OTHER APPLICATION

DATA LOGGER MTRC DIGITAL AXLCOUNTERS

VOICE LOGGER SIGNALING DATA LOGGER

PASSENGER RESERVATION SYSTEM (PRS)

Out of the total passengers carried by IR, inter-city passengers constitute a mere 9% of the

total volume. But, this small proportion, generates about 52% of the total Passenger-Km

and also brings in a revenue of roughly 72% of the total. This market segment is a well-

patronized one and in order to meet the situation, the customers have been provided with

the facility of making their reservation on these trains. Because of the complexity and sheer

volume involved, IR undertook management of Reservation work through computers. A

pilot project implemented at New Delhi in November 1985 came out successful by May

1987, the entire New Delhi Reservation Load was computerized. This system was further

implemented at remaining three metropolitan cities, namely, Mumbai (June '87), Kolkata

(July '87) and Chennai (October '87). the last at Secunderabad (July '89). Many other

stations having advance reservation arrangements were connected as remote terminals to

the existing five computer systems for accessing the entire database of the host computer.

CONCERT (Country- wide Network of computerized Enhanced Reservation & Ticketing),

Indian railways fully automated passenger Reservation system, is a complex on line

distributed transaction application based on client server architecture interconnecting the

regional computing system into a National PRS grid. The salient features of CONCERT

software are:

Allows passenger from any where to do a booking for a journey in any train in any

class from anywhere to anywhere.

Handles reservation, modifications cancellation/refunds.

31 supervisory on-line functions and 21 on-line enquiries.

Performs reservation for over 8,82,000 seats and berths (peak rush as high as

10,17,000) daily.

4262 reservation terminals

Across more than 1200 locations.

CONCERT software offers a range of operating options, including:

40 types of quota

8 types of train

9 type of classes

192 types of concessions

105 types of coaches including composite coaches etc.

Printing of bilingual journey ticket.

Response time of less than two second for a reservation transaction

Complex rules, validations and fare computation technique

interwoven in the application.

Data base administration package to cater to dynamic operational

requirement with respect to change in train profile, timetable and

fares.

PRS on INTERNET and other Networks. Dynamic information available on the website

A) Enquiry

PNR status

Train between pair of station

Accommodation availability

Train Schedule

Station code enquiry

All above available enquires are also available through SMS on

mobile phone

B) Static information dissemination

Reservation/refund rules

General information

Tourist information

Special train

PRS ON INTERNET AND OTHER NETWORKS

E- ticketing: CRIS has successfully developed the Internet ticketing solution launched by

IRCTC. The effort involved interfacing the IRCTC front end with back end PRS Alpha

servers, writing procedures for search and queries at the backend, ticket printing on existing

clients and accounting software.

SMS and Alert Services: The following services are available on 676747, 8888 with

major cellular service providers like Airtel, Hutch, Idea, BPL, MTNL & BSNL, etc: PNR

status, accommodation availability, trains between stations, fare, train schedule, etc.

Alerts for delays in departure of Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Jan Shatabdi services to be

launched shortly.

UTS (UNRESERVED TICKET SYSTEM)

Unreserved ticket constitutes a major component of the overall ticketing and contributes a

large amount of earning for Indian Railways. To achieve the goal of modern ticketing

system, the UTS solution, adopted, meets the immediate and short-term needs but shall be

able to incorporate the future technologies easily and quickly. UTS is the complete solution

for computerized unreserved ticketing from dedicated counter terminals and replaces

manual Printed Card Tickets/EFTs/BPTs.

In future ticketing from handheld terminals smart card, automatic vending machines, etc. is

also envisaged.

Features of Unreserved Ticketing System

Latest technology

Reduced queues

Tickets available from any station to any station

All concessions

Return/Reverse/Cancellation of tickets

Allows ticketing 3 days in advance

Analysis of the demand on various routes to enable planning of augmentation of

train services/coaches

This is recently new system in the Railways. First UTS system made portioning in

year 2001.

In DHN, UTS operational at 2 counters.

Ticket from any station to any station on Indian Railways.

Train fares printed on ticket are current..

Only one ticket for more than one passenger in a group.

UTS Works on 64 kbps data channel of OFC (Railway) or BSNL.

For issue of General/ Second class tickets only.

All UTS counters are connected in a network of E.C. Rly and Main server is at

Patna.

FREIGHT OPERATIONS INFORMATION SYSTEM (FOIS)

The market share of IR in the total freight traffic carried in the country has been declining

in the last 20 years mainly due to the inability of IR to carry all the traffic offered to it.

While considerable inputs are needed for augmenting the capacity of rolling stock as well

as line capacity, the optimum utilization of existing resources is considered more

imperative for carrying additional volume of traffic. Realizing the significant contribution

that Computerization can make in improving the utilization of Rolling Stock assets, Indian

Railways have been planning from the early stages for the introduction of use of computers

in the freight operations. Ultimately, Indian Railways decided in 1986 to go in for an

integrated computer communication system called Freight Operation Information System

(FOIS) with an objective to computerize the information relating to all operational

activities and monitor the performance of all activity centers connected with freight traffic

management.

In the era of supply chain management and integrated logistic movement, continuous cargo

visibility is the most critical component of any physical distribution system.. FOIS enables

management and control of freight movement and optimization of asset utilization. The

system enables freight customers to have instant access to information on current status of

their consignments in transit facilitating just in time inventory.

1. FOIS comprises the Rake Management System (RMS) which handles Freight

Operations and Terminal Management System (TMS) which manages commercial

transactions. About 2000 reporting devices have been commissioned at more than 425

locations of Indian Railways.

2. FOIS has been designed to give strategic advantages to both Indian Railways and its

customers. The implementation of the system is envisaged to achieve the following:

MODEM

(i) Increasing market share by clubbing and moving together similar type of stock with

"Hub & Spoke" arrangement.

(ii) Global tracking of consignments in near real time.

(iii) Facilitates acceptance of customer's orders, billing cash accounting of receipts

through introduction of e-commerce.

3. FOIS provides tremendous opportunities to both the railway and their customers,

improving existing business practice, reducing operating costs while enhancing the quality

of services.

IVRS (INTERACTIVE VOICE RESPONACE SYSTEM)

IVRS (INTERACTIVE VOICE RESPONACE SYSTEM) system is a telephonic enquiry

system which gives following information is multiple languages -

Passenger Name Record (PNR) enquiry

Train Arrival/Departure information enquiry

Berth availability position in any train.

NTES (National Train Enquiry System)

NTES provides arrival/departure as well as current status information about any

passenger train in the entire Indian railways

NTES is parallel to PRS. The servers are located at five metros i.e. Delhi, Kolkata,

Mumbai, Chennai, Secunderabad. and all interconnected.

Entry are made regarding running of train every half and hours at various location

including divisional Headquarter all over the Indian railways.

NTES is used by IVRS and other web enabled services and mobile services for

providing train information to the public.

Computerized information about train running is available at www.tra.inenquiry.com with

the following features: -

1. Spot Your Train: Displays current running status of a train along with the delays if

any

2. Find Your Trains: - Displays list of trains running between two stations along with

their timings and days of run.

3. Train Arrivals:- Displays list of trains arriving at a station in the specified time

frame (next 3 hours).

4. Train Departures: Displays a list of trains departing from a station in the specified

time frame (next 3 hours).

5. Train Time Table:- Detailed scheduled timings (arrival and departure) of a train at

all halting stations.

6, Passing by Trains:- Shows a list of trains arriving at a station in the next 24 hours.

7. Detailed list of Railways Amenities at various stations of a II the 1 6 zones.

8. Information about Prestigious Trains (e.g. Palace on Wheels, Royal Orient, etc.)

9. Information about Railway Rules.

10. Information pertaining to Tourists.

11. Hindi Section for important pages.

RAILNET -

To reap the benefit of explosion in Information Technology, Indian Railways have

establish a ‘Corporate Wide Information System’ (CWIS) between Railway Board, Zonal

Railways Head Quarters, Production Units and Centralized Training Institutes, etc. called

as RAILNET. It is able to provide smooth flow of Information on demand for

administrative purposes, which will help in taking quicker and better decisions. RAILNET

has the potential for transfer of Messages, Files, and E-Mails between important locations

on Indian Railways. In addition, the internal Web site in Railway Board and Zonal

Railways Headquarters supports Directives and other important Information for day-do-day

use by various officials. RAILNET provide computer connectivity between Railway Board

and Zonal Railways, Production Units, Centralized Training Institutes, RDSO, CORE,

MTP/Calcutta & 46 Major Training Institutes. The structure of RAILNET is as under:

Besides these three mainstream Applications, by using Information Technology, the

Management Information System as well as Decision Support System also can be

improved and be made very efficient.

MOBILE TRAIN RADIO COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

The System is primarily based on the European telecommunication standards Institute

(ETSI) Global System for Mobile (GSM) Phase-2 standard and additional requirements

specified in EIRENE and Mobile Radio for Railways Network in Europe (MORANE)

SRS documents.

Network :

Network shall support following voice telephony services.

Point to point voice calls.

Broadcast voice calls.

Group voice calls.

Multicompany voice calls.

Emergency voice calls.

All voice calls services except group calls shall be display and shall able to

operate between any combination of fixed and mobile equipment users.

The system shall support multi party voice communication between upto six

different parties. Any of the parties involved in a multi-party voice call shall be

able to talk simultaneously.

The system shall provide direct mode capability for set-to-set communication

within the radio coverage area of a base station.

The network shall have the capability of supporting following data services, which may be

required by Railway in future:

Train control applications.

General data applications.

Automatic fax and text messages.

The network shall support point-to-point data communications. The network shall support

data rates of at least 2.4 kbit/s.

The network shall support as a minimum following call related services

Display of identity of called / calling user.

Restriction of display of called / calling user.

Priority and pre-emption.

Closed user group.

Call forwarding.

Call hold.

Call waiting.

Call barring.

The MTR network shall also provide support for the following railway specific services -

Railway emergency calls

Functional addressing including registration / deregistration

Location dependent addressing.

Shunting mode.

Multiple driver communications.

CONCLUSION

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM (MIS)

For running any Business Organization, the efficiency of the MIS is very important. Indian

Railways have many areas, where use of IT is going to have a telling effect. Some of the

areas are:

1) Rail Budget Compilation System ( Chipping out the budget)

CRIS has developed RBCS for collecting budgetary inputs from the different zones and

production units of the Indian Railways. The system facilitates capturing of data, building

of database, analysis of demands and pruning of the estimates for inclusion in the Railway

Budget. Apart from MIS reports, the system enables printing of budget documents in

bilingual -Hindi and English. This system is implemented at 88 locations spread over Zonal

Railways and Production Units apart from Railway Board.

2) Comprehensive Payroll Processing System (Scrolling the Payroll)

CPPS is a comprehensive bilingual package generating monthly salary bills including

Incentive Bonus Calculation and Labor Accounting modules and pay slips in Hindi

3) Vigilance Software System (VSS)

VSS is designed specially for the requirements of Vigilance Department of Indian

Railways and has been implemented in all the Vigilance Departments of Indian Railway

Zonal Head Quarters. VSS maintains information about vigilance cases / complaints

includes various reports, forwarding letters generated by Vigilance Department & keeps

track of Receipt &

4.) Material Management Information System for P-Way material (MMIS)

This package is designed specially for the requirements of Civil Engineering Department of

Indian Railways and helps the users in accounting' stores for P-Way materials, Special

emphasis has been given to scrap disposal.

Use of IT in Personnel Management

5.) Comprehensive Accounting & Transaction System (CATS)

CATS has been designed with common database to address functionalities for both

personnel and Finance Departments. CATS contains two major modules Financial

Accounting System (FAS) and Payroll System (PS)

Use of IT is likely to be implemented in the following areas also

Asset Management Information System

Health Management Information System

Passenger Information System

Project Management Information System

Law Management Information System

Training Management Information System

Disaster Management Information System

Transport Management Information System

References:www.indianrailway.comwww.railwayinquiery.comwww.indianrail.gov.inwww.trainweb.org

www.geocities.com/rail