Gowda repeats previous budget's targets for IRCTC revamp

Budget announced a slew of technology initiatives for Indian Railways, here is a quick look at major ones

In line with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government’s focus on improving governance through the use of technology, the maiden budget presented by Railways Minister D V Sadananda Gowda on Tuesday was laden with several such initiatives. While some are aimed at directly improving passenger amenities, others will try to better the Indian Railways' internal functioning which will reflect on the overall passenger experience.

On the cards are initiatives such as Wi-Fi at major stations; workstations in select trains on payment basis for business travellers; online booking of retiring rooms; ordering food while onboard through emails and SMS; and mobile-based wakeup call system and destination arrival alert for passengers among others. The Railways also made its debut on Twitter and Facebook on Monday.

TECH ON RAILS

• Online reservation system to be revamped. System’s capabilities will be increased by three to four times
• The facility to book a coach and berth of one’s choice added
• Railways will become paperless within five years. A computer assisted enterprise resource planning solution being planned
• Wi-Fi services in all A1 and A category stations; real-time tracking of trains and rolling stock; mobile-based destination arrival alert; extension of computerised parcel management system
• Digitisation and GIS mapping of the land assets to protect and leverage these for raising resources
• Vehicle-borne ultrasonic flaw detection system to detect rail and weld fractures

Like the previous full-fledged Railway budget announced by then railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, Gowda said the online reservation system would be revamped and the system’s capabilities increased by three to four times to support “bookings of 7,200 tickets a minute against 2,000 tickets a minute currently, and will allow 1,20,000 simultaneous users at any point in time”. The targets, too, are a repetition from the previous budget.

Bansal had also announced website operations would be made in-house, with internal technology arm, Centre For Railway Information Systems (CRIS), running it. A former official of CRIS said the targets announced by Gowda had already been achieved. Over 50 per cent of all rail tickets are booked online through the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp (IRCTC), which has been criticised for being cumbersome to use.

An interesting addition was the facility to book a coach and berth of one’s choice, an option currently not available while booking rail tickets. A system will also be put in place to buy platform tickets and unreserved tickets over the internet along with parking-cum-platform combo tickets which will help passengers save time. Ticket booking will also be possible through mobile phones and post offices, Gowda said.

“Though Indian Railways has taken up computerisation in a large way, all the efforts have not been in synergised,” said Gowda. The need of the hour is to bring in a total change in the work culture of railways, he added. A computer assisted enterprise resource planning solution is being planned to create synergies.

Moreover, the Railways will move towards becoming paperless over the next five years.

However, given its huge workforce and a network spanning far-flung areas of a city, the task may prove to be difficult to achieve. On the cards are also real-time tracking of trains and rolling stock; extension of computerised parcel management system etc.

Jaijit Bhattacharya, partner, infrastructure and government services at KPMG in India said using modern technology to enhance safety and security, as well as improve management by deciding to adopt an ERP solution, is a welcome step. “We hope there is also a focus on energy efficiency in order to bring down the operational costs which will improve operational profitability,” he said. J K Gupta, chief financial officer, CMC Ltd, said it is important to note the government has begun to look at IT as a sector which will bring in efficiency to systems. “The IT initiatives to come up to world class standards will in turn push up customer standards as well,” he said.

Railways holds a huge land base and in order to better manage and use it, digitisation and GIS mapping of the land assets is also being planned. This would help Railways in protecting the lands as well as leveraging it for raising resources. “The resource mobilisation using land assets will be explored through private participation in setting up railway related business in railway lands as well as for commercial development,” said Gowda.

In the area of safety, Railways proposes to use Vehicle Borne Ultrasonic Flaw Detection System to detect rail and weld fractures. In addition Ultrasonic Broken Rail Detection System (UBRD) will also be tried at two locations as a Pilot Project. Automatic closing doors is also being piloted for limited number of trains which is further expected to enhance passenger safety.