IRCTC NEWS I INDIAN RAILWAY NEWS: Information Technology

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Monday, 10 September 2018

Initiatives to Improve Train Operations

Initiatives to Improve Train Operations

Indian Railways undertakes various IT initiatives to improve train operations and provide better passenger experience

Indian Railways has always focussed on adoption of new technologies to improve train operations and provide better passenger experience to its customers. In this series, Indian Railways has introduced various IT initiatives. Following are the major initiatives taken by Indian Railways in this regard.

Tracking of trains using newer technologies:

Railways have experimented with tracking of trains using GPS devices with these GPS devices located in the locomotive. For a sustainable solution, a Real Time Train Information System (RTIS) is being implemented, whereby GPS tracking devices would communicate using satellite communications. The trials have been successful. Apart from this, data logger systems already available in track circuited stations are being used at major interchange points to capture arrival/departure information on trains.

In an effort to computerise the transactions of the station master, a Computerised Train Signal Register is going live at 650 stations and this enables arrival/departure information to be transmitted to the Control Office Application (COA) and the National train Enquiry System (NTES) directly from the station master’s desk.

Handheld Devices on trains:

Handheld Terminals (HHTs) are being provided to the Train Ticket Examiners (TTEs) to be able to check the reserved coaches, allot the vacant berths and transmit information on available berths to the subsequent stations. The HHT can also access the ticketing application and collect excess fares as per rules. The terminal can potentially connect to a Point of Sale (POS) machine and charges can be collected digitally.

Modernisation of Ticketing Website (IRCTC):

Over the last four years, the capacity of the website has increased to 20,000 tickets per minute starting from 2000 tickets per minute in 2014, a ten-fold increase. Apart from the capacity, the entire user experience has been improved substantially with the launch a new interface with easier navigation and standard views that enable the passengers to transact smoothly. New features have been added that enable better planning of journeys aiding the passenger to obtain confirmed tickets.

Paperless Unreserved Ticketing through Mobile Phones:

Paperless Unreserved ticketing on mobile phones was launched on 25.12.2014 at Mumbai and has since been expanded to suburban sections of Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Secunderabad and New Delhi-Palwal section of Northern Railway. This has eliminated the need for passengers to stand in queue for getting tickets for journey in unreserved compartments of trains. The ticket is delivered on the Mobile Phone and is embedded with QR Code. This service has added to passenger convenience. About 4 lakh passengers per day are booking tickets on Mobile phones.

More Details

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Monday, 17 October 2016

railway news 19:56

Cloud-controlled TV displays units at 2000 Railway Stations

Cloud-controlled TV displays units at 2000 Railway Stations

Large screens to display info at Old Delhi, Varanasi, Vijayawada and Ernakulam stations – Railway stations at Old Delhi, Gwalior, Jaipur and two more from Uttar Pradesh will start disseminating information related to trains on giant screens shortly by the end of this month as part of the government’s Digital India campaign.

If project timelines are met, the rail display network (RDN) – a networked system of approximately 200,000 screens across 2,175 A1, A,B,C and D stations – will become operational by next March.

These screens will be “cloud controlled” to allow the telecast of same content at the same time across the country. Options for display of different content on separate screens or telecast of content in different languages will also exist. Advertisements will take up 50% of the display, while the rest will be devoted to rail-related information such as arrival and departure of trains. The RDN screens will have audio and video capabilities to enable telecast of policy pronouncement of of the Prime Minister or the railway minister, train movements, zonal and divisional updates etc.

Rail-related documentaries will also be telecast, along with content on lifestyle, health and entertainment. “Static hoardings and posters will be removed from stations to improve aesthetics after the RDN is put in place,” an official said.

The concept – envisaging a project cost of Rs 2,000 crore – makes sound business sense.

Four firms, including a joint venture of Zee Media Corporation and Media on Track, have made offers to partner with the railways on this plan. “These firms have been asked to submit the proof of concept by November-end. Financial bids to set up the RDN will be floated by December,” the source said.

Real-time train indicator facility soon at Ernakulam South station

Commuters arriving at the South Railway station will soon be able to know the real time position of trains scheduled to arrive at the station for the next four hours.

After Thiruvananthapuram Central, the real-time train indicator facility is being set up at the Ernakulam Junction railway station in the division and the work is expected to be over within a week.

“The information on current status of the trains scheduled to arrive in the next four hours will be shown on the LED Display boards. So far information regarding train arrival or departure was fed manually, but under this system, real-time data is given automatically from a central location,” said a senior official.

The railways plans to install the facility at two more stations – Ernakulam Town and Thrissur. “Real time data will be fed from the central server. Currently the facility is provided at these stations on an experimental basis. The drawback is that once some malfunction occurs, the data cannot be fed manually,” the official said.

Meanwhile, more passenger amenities like touch screens and passenger information have been set up at the Main entrance and the Eastern Gate. “Since the station experiences a heavy rush, the current facilities were inadequate. Hence, the addition. The security of the station too has been made foolproof with bomb detection scanners installed at the station entry point on both sides,” the official said.

Railway stations at Old Delhi, Gwalior, Jaipur and two more from Uttar Pradesh will start disseminating information related to trains on giant screens by the end of this month as part of the government’s Digital India camapign.

Six stations, including Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency, and Gorakhpur are part of the 2175 stations which have been selected for installing two lakh screens that would update passengers about arrivals, departures, seat availability, platform berthing and other related information round-the-clock.

Besides relaying information, these Rail Display Network (RDN) screens will also display advertisements to enable the public sector behemoth add to its revenue.

We expect to earn about Rs 1000 crore from these two lakh RDN screens, said a senior Railway Ministry official involved in the project.

The railway is operationalising the RDN screens at six stations as a pilot project.

He said these RDN screens will replace all other medium of advertising and relaying train-related information from stations. Screens will be put up at the most visible locations.

These screens will be ‘cloud-controlled’ which will allow effective monitoring of the content.

As per the arrangement, 50 per cent of the screen will display railway-related information and the rest advertisement. The screens will have both audio and video facilities.

Railtel, Indian Railway’s telecom PSU, will provide the optical fibre cable network and fulfil other technical requirements to make screens functional.

The official said the move, apart from promoting the Digital India campaign, will vastly improve aesthetics of the station premises as all static hoardings and posters will be removed.

Source:RailNews

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Monday, 20 June 2016

Telepresence 07:51

RailTel launches HD Immersive Video Conferencing service TPaSS

RailTel launches HD Immersive Video Conferencing service TPaSS

Vijayawada: RailTel launched the state of the art HD Video Conferencing Service- Telepresence as a Service (TPaSS) for the Andhra Pradesh Irrigation Department at Vijayawada, in the august presence of Hon’ble Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Shri Nara Chandrababu Naidu.

Hon’able Minister of Irrigation of AP, Shri Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao, Regional General Manager, RailTel, Shri P.V.Sreekant,Cisco VP Shri Vikram Kumar, Project Manager, Wipro, Shri Venu Gopal, Engineer-in-Chief, Chief Engineers of AP were also present during the event.

RailTel earlier got the Work Order from AP State Water Resources Department for Installation & Commissioning of Cisco’s Telepresence Studios IX 5200 each at Jalasoudha, CM’s Camp Office/Vijayawada, integration with SX 20 in all 13 Districts in AP, in which Wipro is the SI (deal value INR 5,67,19,894/-), through the tendering process.

This project pertains to Water Resources Department wherein it was earlier proposed for installation and commissioning of Cisco’s Immersive Telepresence Studios IX 5200, one each at Jala Soudha, Hyderabad and Andhra Pradesh CM’s Camp Office at Vijayawada and integrating with Cisco’s SX 20 in all the 13 district HQs of APWRD.

Andhra Pradesh is the first State Government to deploy such latest equipment in the country. RailTel has connected all the district head quarters of AP & Irrigation HQ at Jalasoudha, Hyderabad with Optical Fibre Network and installed latest state of the art video conference technology called Immersive Tele-Presence. The solution provided to Irrigation Department of AP included setting up of CISCO IX-5200 Tele-Presence studios & the installation of 18 seater immersive CISCO IX-5200 Tele-Presence at Jalasoudha, Hyderabad & APWRD office, Vijayawada. At all the district HQs, CISCO SX-20 Tele Presence equipment with all other end points have been installed.

The collaboration TP solution offered combines the use of video, audio and on-screen drawing capabilities and allows each party of the meeting to dial-in to the Tele Presence room to see/talk to every other member on a screen as if they were in the same roomRailTel launched the state of the art HD Video Conferencing Service- Telepresence as a Service (TPaSS) for the Andhra Pradesh Irrigation Department at Vijayawada, in the august presence of Hon’ble Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Shri Nara Chandrababu Naidu.

The collaboration TP solution offered combines the use of video, audio and on-screen drawing capabilities and allows each party of the meeting to dial-in to the Tele Presence room to see/talk to every other member on a screen as if they were in the same room. The visual aspect greatly enhances communication, allowing for perceptions of facial expression and other body language.

The immersive Tele Presence solution offered would enhance the productivity of Irrigation department by reducing the travel spend and improving work/life balance. It will allow the department to take prompt decisions as even hand held mobile devices can join multi-party immersive conference in real-time, independent of location.

AP irrigation department plans to use RailTel’s Tele Presence platform for their online SCADA application and water management through smart grid. Chief Minister, during his 3 hour long conference, elucidated the need to exploit technology to effectively utilize water resources in the newly formed state.

RailTel, with its partners M/s Wipro Limted and M/s Cisco, has completed the project within 3 months.

Source:Raitel

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Monday, 16 May 2016

suresh prabhu 18:19

Indian Railways ERP Project will be the world’s Largest IT project: Suresh Prabhu

Indian Railways ERP Project will be the world’s Largest IT project: Suresh Prabhu

Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister for Railways announced slew of initiatives taken by his ministry to revamp and modernize Indian Railways

‘Implementation of effective technological solutions can unlock the true potential of India’s transport & logistics sector’ was the underlying statement at the launch event of Association of MSMEs in Information Technology (AIM-IT) in the financial capital earlier today.

AIM-IT which is India’s first sectoral organisation for Medium, Small and Micro IT enterprises (MSMEs) was founded by well-known technocrat Mr Vinit Goenka in 2015. The association was set up with an aim of representing, advocating and promoting interests of IT-MSMEs to ensure economic and technological advancement of the country.

The event theme – ‘Challenges and Opportunities of Modernising Indian Railways through implementation of IT’ saw participation from all key stakeholders of the sector including, central & state govt ministers, bureaucrats, IT and logistic companies, start-ups, innovators, and policy makers. Riveting discussions were held on various important subjects such as, Role of MSME companies in Railways, Shaping the future of Smart of Railways, ‘Internet of Things and Indian Railways, and ‘Smart Cities’: Smarter Roads – Smarter Transport.

Addressing the audience, Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister for Railways announced slew of initiatives taken by his ministry to revamp and modernize Indian Railways. He remarked that the ERP project undertaken by Indian Railways is the largest such IT project undertaken by any country. Speaking on the need to support indigenous IT solutions, the honourable minister said, “The Rail Ministry has started a special fund of Rs 50 crore to support IT companies coming up with innovative solutions for Railways. We are looking for solutions in critical areas such as customer interface and also IT security. Cyber Security is of utmost importance to us”

While speaking on the importance of including IT-MSMEs in building and implementation of technology in infra projects by the Government, Mr Vinit Goenka, founder chairman of AIMIT said, “India is the fourth largest base for new businesses in the world and home to over 3,100 tech start-ups. It is time that Govt taps into these new, technology-driven companies to help India solve infrastructural issues which has been stunting its growth since Independence. Currently India is deprived of research and innovation due to irrational and biased policy strategies of large corporate houses and IT MNCs from the west who dominate the IT sector. We strongly feel that if Government includes MSMEs in IT then we will see path-breaking and cost-effective solutions in the transport sector.”

The other highlight of the event was presentation of the draft policy document of the revolutionary technology – On Vehicle Smart Module (OVSM) to Chief Guest Suresh Prabhu, honourable Union Minister of Railways, by AIM-IT’s founder chairman, Mr Vinit Goenka.

OVSM was one of the top five recommendations which were selected after a nationwide campaign conducted by a special policy group – #ITforParivahan. This policy group was set up by Govt of India’s IT task force members and renowned technocrats Padmashree Dr. Mohandas Pai and Mr. Vinit Goenka as a platform to crowd source ideas to improve Indian infrastructure.

Mr Vinit Goenka said that implementing IT will help government build transparent, economic, fast, scalable solutions through disruptive and inclusive ideas.

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Tuesday, 12 April 2016

Transportation of goods 15:58

Growth in Passenger & Freight Traffic will boost IT Spending in Railways thru’2020: Technavio

Growth in Passenger & Freight Traffic will boost IT Spending in Railways thru’2020: Technavio

Technavio analysts forecast the global information technology (IT) spending in railways market to grow at a CAGR of close to 16% during the forecast period, according to their latest report.

The research study covers the present scenario and growth prospects of the global IT spending in railways market for 2016-2020. The report also presents the vendor landscape and a corresponding detailed analysis of the top five vendors operating in the market.

Technavio ICT analysts highlight the following four factors that are contributing to the growth of the global IT spending in railways market:

Need to improve efficiency and reduce cost
Growth in passenger and freight traffic
Enhance passenger experience
Need to improve overall security
Need to improve efficiency and reduce cost

HCL Technologies signs Infrastructure Deal with Alstom

HCL Technologies signs Infrastructure Deal with Alstom

New Delhi: HCL Technologies said it has signed an infrastructure deal with France-based locomotive company Alstom, to provide engineering services, PC as-a-Service for 30,000 global users, and enable local end-user support services for multiple geographies.

The organisations did not disclose the deal value.

HCL will also set up a multi lingual global service desk for Alstom in 11 languages including more than 50 per cent French speaking users.

These services will be delivered through HCL’s three global delivery centers located in Poland, Brazil and India.

“Following the sale of Alstom Energy and central support functions to GE on 2nd November, it was our priority to ensure a smooth and continuous IT operations, to embrace the digital economy in our transformational objectives while optimizing costs,” said Christine Heckmann, chief information officer, Alstom.

IMS or infrastructure management services is HCL’s biggest business.

“Our track record in carrying out build, operate and transfer projects, and implementing multi-sourcing services integration gave Alstom the confidence that we were their ideal technology partner,” said Ashish Gupta, Corporate Vice President & Head-Diversified Industries & Infrastructure Services, EMEA, HCL Technologies.

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Wednesday, 27 January 2016

Registration 05:55

Complaints & Suggestions Registration Form -Indian Railways

Complaints & Suggestions Registration Form

Source:http://www.coms.indianrailways.gov.in/criscm/common/complaint_registration.seam

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Tuesday, 1 September 2015

Railway Minister 23:59

Railway Minister launches three important IT enabled Services developed by CRIS

Railway Minister launches three important IT enabled Services developed by CRIS

New Delhi: The Minister of Railways, Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu today launched the following IT initiatives developed by Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) (the IT arm of Ministry of Railways using remote control by organising Video-Conferencing between, Rail Bhawan and New Delhi Station.

1. Paperless Unreserved Ticketing through Mobile Phone between New Delhi – Palwal Section (NR)

2. Currency Coin cum Card operated Automatic Ticket Vending Machines at New Delhi Railway Station

3. Mobile Application for Freight Operations (PARICHAALAN)

Chairman, Railway Board, A.K. Mital, Kundan Sinha, Member Traffic, Railway Board, Jamshed, Additional Member (IT), Mrs.Vandana Nanda, Managing Director, CRIS, Board Members and senior officials of Railway Board and CRIS were among those present on the occasion in the Rail Bhawan. At New Delhi Station end, Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Dr. Harsh Vardhan and Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) Ms. Meenakshi Lekhi, New Delhi constituency.

Speaking on the occasion, the Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhu said that he is happy to launch various new initiatives, especially IT related initiatives, which are directed towards improving passenger and customer services on Indian Railways. The IT applications which have been inaugurated today are an indication that Indian Railways is constantly moving towards e-Governance. As you are aware, in the recent past we have launched a number of such IT initiatives which were also part of my Budget announcements. Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of Digital India is also our guiding force in Indian Railways. The Minister said the IT initiatives being undertaken by Indian Railways are in line with the Digital India Programme. He said that the spirit of this programme is to work as broad umbrella for various initiatives undertaken to improve quality of life and create facilities for common people.

Suresh Prabhu said that in April & June we had launched Paperless Unreserved Ticketing System for Chennai and Mumbai suburban sections. Today this has been launched for New Delhi-Palwal section of Northern Railway. This system shall now be proliferated to other important suburban sections of Eastern Railway, South Eastern Railway and South Central Railway shortly.

He said that Introduction of Coin-cum-Currency operated Ticketing Vending Machine is another step forward in ensuring that passengers get their tickets quickly under ‘Operation five minutes’ announced in Railway Budget. These ticket vending machines shall be installed at all the major stations in the country. 450 machines are being procured and installed by CRIS and shall be available at major stations during the next 3 months.

The Railway Minister said that the Freight Monitoring App named ‘Parichaalan’ is another development towards improving operating efficiency through improved Management Information System. This App shall greatly help the senior decision makers of Operating Department to plan freight operations on real time basis. After the initial experiment, this App shall be provided to other operating officers in the field.

Suresh Prabhu said that very soon Monthly Season Ticket (MST) can also be purchased through mobile by the passengers in Mumbai and Chennai suburban Railway network. The Railway Minister also said that even the platform ticket will soon be made available through the mobile phone.

The Minister further stated that in last few months we have also launched many other initiatives including Complaint Management System with mobile application to facilitate obtaining suggestions and complaints from passengers. Many improvements have been brought about in e-ticketing segment especially automatic refund during cancellation of trains, development of Hindi e-ticketing portal and integration of customer services on single portal. SMS Alert System to inform passengers about arrival and departure of trains, all India helpline and Mobile App for woman security have also been launched recently in Mumbai & Kolkata.

Suresh Prabhu said that it is also a matter of pride for us that all these applications are being developed by our own IT organization CRIS in consultation with nodal Directorates of Railway Board. This domain expertise and in-house specialization is unparalleled and these innovations are widely acclaimed to be the best in market.

The Railway Minister also announced that a Memorandum of Understanding will be signed shortly between Railways Department of CRIS and ISRO for using Geospatial Technology and satellite technology for various operations of Railways.

BRIEFS ABOUT VARIOUS IT INITIATIVES:

CASH/SMART CARD OPERATED TICKET VENDING MACHINE (CCOTVM)

Cash/Smart Card operated Ticket Vending machine (CCoTVM) is an unmanned self-operated kiosk which can be used by passengers themselves to buy unreserved tickets through Currency/Coins as well as smart cards. These kiosks have easy graphical interface for ticket transaction so that the user can operate these machines. The kiosk accepts currency/coin of all denominations of Rs 5 and above. The machine does not accept soiled/cut/ glued/taped/colored notes and accepts currency notes of Gandhi series. CCoTVMs will reduce queue length at existing ticket counters by providing an alternate unmanned ticketing solution and mode of payment. CCoTVMs have the following functionalities:-

1) Issue of non-concessional second class journey tickets for non-suburban section and second/first class journey/return tickets for suburban section.

2) Issue of Platform Tickets

3) Renewal of non-concessional season tickets.

4) Recharge of smart cards in denominations of Rs. 20/-, Rs. 50/-, Rs. 100/- and Rs. 500/-.

CCoTVM consists of:

1) Thin Client

2) Thermal Printer

3) Touch screen

4) RFID reader

5) Cash Validator with 15 notes escrow

6) Coin Validator with 10 coins escrow

7) The cash box has the capacity to hold 25,000 notes and 3,000 coins.

The basic difference between Automatic Ticket Vending Machine installed upto now and newly introduced CCoTVM is that ATVM can issue tickets through smart cards while CCoTVM can issue tickets using Cash (notes & coins) and smart cards. It can also be used for recharging these smart cards.

Security of CCoTVM:

The machine has two access doors, both at the front side of the machine and is equipped with mechanical & electronic locks. One door is used for maintenance activity by the service engineer. The second door is for accessing the cash box and is integrated with an alarm system. The alarm will go off whenever the door is opened by any unauthorized person. The machine has a cash box with electro mechanical lock at the bottom. Whenever the authorized supervisor wants to open the cash box to takeout shift cash, he/she will gain access to the machine by using a supervisory smart card. On keeping this smart card on the reader slot and pressing the Indian Railway logo on top right side of the screen, the supervisor’s menu will appear on the screen. After entering the password, machine will print the Daily Trains Cash -cum-Summary Book (DTC) for accountal of the collected cash.

PAPERLESS UNRESERVED TICKETING MOBILE APPLICATION

To move forward in line with Digital India, Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) has developed a paperless Unreserved Ticketing feature in Mobile Application “utsonmobile” both for Android and Windows platforms. This will eliminate the need for printing of Unreserved Tickets on ATVMs at the stations. User can download ‘App’ from Google Play Store or Window Store.

The application was rolled out as a pilot project between Chennai Egmore & Tambaram suburban Section of Southern Railway on 22.04.2015 and Churchgate-Dahanu Road suburban section of Western Railway on 08.07.2015. The application has now been implemented on complete suburban area of Chennai & Mumbai Western Railway suburban section which covers 125 stations over 295 kms distance. Presently, about 1600 tickets are being booked daily by the passengers through this application.

The application is now being implemented on the New Delhi-Palwal section of Northern Railway covering 11 stations over 57 kms distance. For paperless ticketing, GPS co-ordinates of railway tracks on the New Delhi-Palwal section, plus 20 meters on either side of the tracks have been earmarked as Geo-Fencing area within which no ticket booking is allowed in order to ensure that passengers have ticket before commencing the journey.

The application provides necessary on-screen alerts to guide the passenger during the booking process. Payment for the ticket is done through the “Railway Wallet” feature in the “App”. After booking the ticket, the passenger will get the ticket confirmation screen which contains limited information of the ticket. The paperless journey ticket will be stored in the local mobile application database in the encrypted form which cannot be tampered with. Ticket booked in paperless mode cannot be cancelled in order to prevent claiming of refund after travel.

The ticket has distinct colour scheme everyday and it is embedded with Quick Response (QR) code. It cannot be forwarded to another mobile or edited or printed. The old invalid tickets will be removed from the mobile device through a sync feature in the ‘App’.

For the purpose of ticket checking, the application has various features such as colour scheme, show ticket features, secret code of the day, booking time of the ticket and scrolling of legend “IR UNRESERVED TICKETING”. In case of mobile in disconnected mode, it will be checked through QR Code.

PARICHAALAN, REAL TIME DECISION MAKING IN FREIGHT OPERATIONS

Freight operations on Indian Railways are monitored through various reports generated by FOIS. These MIS reports represent various facets of freight operations like rolling stock holding of wagons and locomotives, interchange of freight trains with neighbouring divisions/zones, loading details, current train running and terminal performance. These reports are tabular in design and are mostly static in nature.

‘Parichaalan’ is a mobile application conceptualized and developed by CRIS to make decision making on freight operations absolutely easy and user friendly. The application is a powerful tool as it not only represents data in a pictorial and graphical manner that is easily comprehensible but also makes the information dynamic and current in nature. Instead of focusing on post-mortems, Parichaalan moves operations management systems to a higher level of real time decision making.

‘Parichaalan’ overcomes all this by:

• Providing mapped movement of freight trains- the first time ever on IR.

• Providing powerful search tools-removing the need to sift through voluminous tabular data.

• Providing effective Decision Support System-focusing on the right parameters

• Use of powerful graphical interfaces-for easy comprehension of vital parameters of operations.

• Providing an effective planning tool-predictive in nature for planning of movement and loading.

• Providing a paperless tool- environment friendly leading to savings of a 1000 trees per annum.

• Allowing for mobility of officials- Live updates and decision sharing through the App.

• Allowing adequate time for officials- less stressful working environment.

• Allowing for instant information retrieval across multiple pages through hyperlinks.

• Cost saving in procurement of paper, printing and distribution

This App has the potential to earn carbon credits for IR and also can become a revenue generating tool by providing similar logistics solutions for IR customers like CIL, NTPC, SAIL, TISCO, FCI, Oil Co’s, Ports, etc

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Saturday, 15 August 2015

thalaimannar 08:31

ADB to carry out study for financing Road-cum-Rail Link between India and Sri Lanka

Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways Mr.P.Radhakrishnan urged Ministry of Railways to also plan for development of “Multifunctional/Multi-Model Logistics Park” at Thalaimannar in Sri Lanka, with the help of CONCOR that helps to improve the Trade and Commerce relationship between the two countries, stating that the proposed Rail-cum-Road Link will act as a strong Economic Corridor for both the countries for this century

New Delhi: The Government of India today said that the Asian Development Bank has been asked to carry out pre-feasibility study for financing road and rail link across Palk Strait between India and Sri Lanka. Stating this in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today, Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways P Radhakrishnan said that the project is in the conceptual stage and is subject to approval of government of Sri Lanka.

The Minister said that once the report from ADB is received, the same will be shared by the Indian government with the Sri Lanka Government for further examination.

Mr.Radhakrishnan said that both countries felt that not only there is an urgent need to enhancing of trade, commerce and bilateral relationships between the two countries, but also the collaboration in innovation, knowledge sharing, Science & Technology, Space Sciences, Communication, Information Technology and ICT, Agricultural cooperation, Research and Development etc for the betterment of the region in particular. The envisaged Road-cum-Rail line project between India and Sri Lanka will facilitate heightened economic cooperation in this important region of Southeast Asia, the Minister said.

Minister also urged Ministry of Railways to plan for development of a Multifunctional/Multi-Model Logistics Park near Thalaimannar in Sri Lanka for better movement of goods and supplies through Freight containers. He said that this initiative by Ministry of Railways will enhance the Trade and Commerce between the two countries and Rail-cum-Road Link will help speedier transportation of freight logistics by rail and road mode, and serves as the key Economic Corridor for both the countries.

The Minister also urged Confederation of Indian Industry, FICCI and other Organisations to engage with Sri Lanka in greater detail, for development of the industries covering the manufacturing, agro-products, life sciences, agriculture, Information Technology, heavy industries and the other core sectors.

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Tuesday, 28 July 2015

Women safety 17:27

Evolve strategy to Combat Crime aboard Train: Kalam asked Railways in 2006

Evolve strategy to Combat Crime aboard Train: Kalam asked Railways in 2006

Use communication technology, IT to enhance passenger safety. Network all RPF units President presents colours to RPF in Delhi

NEW DELHI: Exhorting the Railways to use emerging technology, particularly information and communication technology, to enhance passenger safety, former President of India A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on Monday 23rd May, 2006 said a special strategy should be formulated to combat rising crime aboard trains.

An analysis might be conducted of the frequency and types of crime against passengers in different parts. Based on this, a strategy should be worked out for combating crimes in areas where the frequency and intensity were very high.

Mr. Kalam was speaking after presenting colours to the Railway Protection Force (RPF) at Dayabasti in northwest Delhi.

Executing complex missions

“Advanced sensors have become crucial to forewarn [of] many situations and to keep surveillance. The provision of state-of-the-art communication systems including mobile systems, night vision devices, information technology solutions, micro gadgets and intelligent networking with security can provide better managed solutions for critical operations. It will help you plan and execute difficult and complex missions with precision and a low casualty rate.”

Highlighting the need to network all RPF units for rapid mobilisation of additional resources in critical areas, Mr. Kalam said: “There is need to remove the division of responsibility between the Government Railway Police and the RPF” and for empowering the RPF with legal sanction to tackle all cognisable offences under the Indian Penal Code and all special Acts so that there would be a single-point responsibility for tackling crimes against passengers.

Recruitment of women

The President hailed recruitment of women constables, besides the setting up of the “Tejaswini” and “Bhairavi” squads for the safety of women passengers.

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Thursday, 9 July 2015

RFID 21:23

Railways’ IT Advisory Council to outline use of IT for Railways to improve Efficiency

Railways’ IT Advisory Council to outline use of IT for Railways to improve Efficiency

New Delhi: A panel set up by the Ministry of Railways is working on creating an IT Vision for the Indian Railways and identifying areas to leverage newer technologies such as Cloud, Analytics, Predictive Analysis and Geographic Information Systems and better Systems Integration to improve the efficiency of its vast and complex Railway network across the country.

Although Indian Railways has been effectively using information technology in areas such as passenger reservation and freight operations, the scope for further transformation is very large, said Som Mittal, former president of IT industry lobby NASSCOM, who is heading the 11-member information technology advisory council which was set up in May.

“The focus is to bring in more efficiency, build in more safety and integrate various operations of railways through technology,” he said. As part of its mandate, the council will “integrate and cover passenger services, freight services, asset management and train operations, safety and security as well as operations/enterprise management of the railways”, and give recommendations for strategy for implementation, capacity building and change management.

The final report of the council, likely to be submitted in the next five to six weeks after widespread consultations with industry and government bodies, will look at how existing and new technology platforms and applications can perform better by talking to each other.

“The council is looking at integrating existing applications, which were initially built for a specific need. Integrating applications will help make realtime information available. There is also a need to look at some apps where technologies are getting obsolete and may need to be rebuilt,” said Mittal.

A nearly 65,000 route km, the network generated revenue of nearly Rs 14 lakh million in 2013-14, of which about 26% came from passenger traffic and 67% from freight.

The focus, Mittal said, is on enabling a transition from management information systems to effective decision support systems, in addition to optimised use of assets and resources efficiency, moving from discrete at-a-time information to real-time information and a more integrated environment.

This real-time data could be obtained, for example, with GPS or GIS tech and using proximity sensors or RFID sensors to track locomotives and wagons. “Indian Railways uses information technology in various aspects of its working, including passenger services, freight services, asset management and back-office applications,” said Mohammad Jamshed, Additional Member (Computerisation and Information Systems), who is also part of the council. “A number of IT applications and systems are in progress and being planned,” he said.

Other members of the council include academics, IT experts, officials from the Ministry and the Centre for Railway Information Systems, which develops and manages IT applications of the railways, RailTel Corporation of India Ltd (a Telecom PSU arm of Indian Railways) and the Department of Electronics and IT.

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Wednesday, 8 July 2015

Tata Consultancy Services 07:57

Indian Railways Join hands with TCS for Recruitment Exam Online to introduce Transparency into its operations

Indian Railways Join hands with TCS for Recruitment Exam Online to introduce Transparency into its operations

MUMBAI: The Indian Railways has tied up with Tata Consultancy Services BSE -0.52 % to pilot a system to conduct its recruitment exams online, as the country's largest employer looks to introduce transparency into its operations.

For TCS, the pilot is a prestigious one. The railways employ about 1.4 million people and government jobs are highly sought after. In the railway recruitment drive during 2014-15, examinations were conducted for 48,822 vacancies in 284 categories, the railways said in June.

"We are running a pilot with TCS to make the recruitment process more streamlined. Applications are already being doing online but now the exams will also be done online to prevent problems," an executive with the railway recruitment board said.

He declined to be identified because he is not the authorized spokesperson.

Multiple calls to Amitabha Khare, the executive director of the railway recruitment board, went unanswered. TCS declined to comment saying that it was in its silent period before it announces its first-quarter results on July 9.

The pilot, which is due to start this year, will leverage TCS' Ion-cloud platform. The exam management tool allows secured question paper creation and distribution.

TCS ties up with colleges to use their infrastructure to conduct the examinations. It already runs the recruitment exams for the Life Insurance Corporation of India, the Common Aptitude Test for admission to the Indian Institutes of Management, the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering on behalf of the Indian Institutes of Technology and the All India Engineering Entrance Exam.

For the railways, this is the latest in the slew of IT initiatives that are on the cards. About Rs 5000 crores has been budgeted for technology initiatives in this year's railway budget. The money will be spent over the next five years. The pilot is also in keeping with Railway Minister's desire to reduce corruption.

"We have implemented utmost transparency. We need to change the whole system...There is corruption at various levels...But we are committed to do everything to weed out corruption," Suresh Prabhu said in March in the Rajya Sabha

Since the Modi government came into power, technology has been a key sector of investment.

Source :Economic Times

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