Western Railway to bring Local Train schedule to your Mobile

Western Railway to bring Local Train schedule to your Mobile

MUMBAI: For the first time, commuters on the Western Railway suburban system will soon be able to locate any train in real-time using its mobile phone app called Digital Interface of Stations for Help and Amenities or Disha, which currently provides details of train timings and station-wise information of amenities.

According to the Western Railway (WR) officials, Disha, which was launched in February will receive two new features — live update of the trains and time table of the suburban trains. Officials said the two additions were already in the final stages of being rolled out and would go live for passengers by this month end.

Presently along with providing general railway information, Disha also offers railway commuters the assistance of locating an automated ticket vending machine (ATVM), auto/taxi stands, booking windows, bus stands, divyang window, enquiry counters, entry and exit points, subway locations etc. The mobile App will also provide station-wise data of tickets sold, no of passengers per station, nearby refreshment loutlets, ATMs, Railway Protection Force and Government Railway Police posts etc.

“The application is very user friendly and popular among passengers who know about it. We have tried putting each and every single detail about the stations of the Western Railway from RPF offices to nearby ATMs,” said a senior WR official.

Citing an example, railway officials said that the live update of trains will mean that if a Borivali train arriving in the next 07 minutes at platform number 3 is to get cancelled due to some technical problem, Disha will announce the arrival of the Virar train in 12 minutes at platform number 2.

Once downloaded the App would not need Internet. WR’s Sr.Divisional Commercial Manager, Aarti Singh Pratihar told that the trials of the live train updates were found it to be working well. “We used to get many complaints about the commuters getting confused about the location of ticket offices, entry / exit points and other station details. We have tried to make this App as simple to operate as possible and hope that it proves to be helpful to the new passengers in the city,” she said.

Manoj Mishra, a regular commuter who crosses between Central and Western Railway stations termed the initiative as a good one by the railways. “I used to have lots of trouble for getting the locations of ticket window and ATVM machines. But after I downloaded this App, I dont need to ask around.

“The live update of train idea is also a good idea,” Mr Mishra said. The officials informed that the live update of the local train options will be very useful in case of train cancellations and delayed trains. “At times of cancellations and delayed the information and expected timing will be put on the app immediately to avoid the panic between the passengers at such times,” added the official.

Source:RailNews