Railways dismisses reports of data leak from IRCTC site

There is no hacking nor any leakage of IRCTC ticketing website and everything is safe'

Railways today dismissed reports about the leak of email and mobile numbers from user profile data of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation’s (IRCTC) e-ticketing system and said everything is safe and secure.

There is no hacking nor any leakage of IRCTC ticketing website and everything is safe, Railway Board Member (Traffic) Mohd Jamshed told PTI.

He was replying to a query about reports citing cyber officials in Maharashtra regarding alleged leak of email and mobile numbers from user profile data of IRCTC e-ticketing system.

He said the security system has already been reviewed twice in the recent past.

Railways constituted a committee comprising cyber experts and vigilance officials from IRCTC and Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) on May 3 to check the possible theft of data and found no such case.

“The committee has submitted the preliminary reports and there is no leakage. We are constantly monitoring it,” Jamshed said.

The e-ticketing system is managed in-house by CRIS, the IT arm of Indian Railways. The data centre is in the premises of CRIS. According to Railways, the report of possible theft of data came to light on May 2 and a thorough investigation was carried out to ascertain its veracity. However, no such incident was detected by technical teams of CRIS and IRCTC.

The data of e-ticketing system can be broadly divided into two categories — sensitive information like debit/credit card details, login ID, passwords, which could cause potential financial risk. PAN card detail is not required for booking e-ticket. No sensitive data is alleged to have been leaked.

It is clarified that other data like mobile numbers and email ids is available with a large number of electronic service providing entities such as e-commerce firms and telemarketers.

Email and mobile numbers have to be shared with service providers for providing catering services, cab services, hotel bookings, SMS services etc. Till now, leak of data through none of the service providers of IRCTC has been established.

E-ticketing website has been working normally thereby eliminating any chances of unauthorized interference, IRCTC said.

Source:The Hindu 

Passengers can also Lodge their Complaints Through ‘SMS’

The Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu launched a ‘Customer Complaint Web Portal and Mobile Application’ (android/windows based mobile App), at a function here today. Speaking on the occasion the Railway Minister said that this ‘Customer Complaint-cum-Suggestion’ portal and mobile App which can be freely downloaded, will be very useful as one can track the status of the complaints which he or she registered on this portal with the help of mobile App. He said that Railways welcome suggestions from the people to further improve the passenger services and valuable suggestions on this newly launched portal can be incorporated in all possible ways, if found suitable. He appreciated the efforts made by Railway officials and thanked them for implementing this new customer friendly initiative in a very short time, just three days after the announcement of the same in the Railway Budget 2015-16.

The passengers who want to complain or make any suggestions may download the mobile App from the URL www.coms.indianrailways.gov.in. The passengers can also file their complaints and suggestions on the web page www.coms.indianrailways.gov.in .   The passengers can also SMS their complaints on mobile number +91-9717630982.

Also present on the occasion were, Chairman, Railway Board, Shri A.K.Mital, Board Members and other senior officials of the Indian Railways.

The Complaint Management System (COMS) portal consists of the following applications:-

A mobile app based complaints and suggestions application (currently on the android platform).

A web based complaints and suggestions application on URL www.coms.indianrailways.gov.in.

A SMS based complaints and suggestions application on the number +91-9717630982.

A link to Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) will also be provided.

Mobile Apps

Indian Railways are launching  the first  mobile phone App  for registering passenger complaints

The first  Mobile App is on the Android platform

The Mobile application has been implemented using Android 2.3.3 (and above) platform and would be made available for  Windows Phone 8.1 (and above).

The Mobile App uses the latest technology namely  HTML5,  JavaScript, CSS3.1

The Mobile App can be downloaded from Google Play Store.

A fast and user friendly structured interface has been provided to register complaints on mobile phones.

Complaints will be provided with a unique complaint ID number.

Complainants can use the unique ID number to track progress of complaints.

The complaint will be auto assigned to the concerned railway functionary for redressal.

Validations for station name, train number and PNR number have been built into the application for user convenience.

The complaints will be stored in the database.

Detailed MIS reports with various zone wise, division wise, type wise, filters will enable effective monitoring at the administrative end.

The Mobile App is linked to the Complaint Management portal of Indian Railways, where complaints can be registered through Web (www.coms.indianrailways.gov.in)  and SMS (+91-9717630982).

Web based Complaint Management Application:

Passengers can also register complaints through the Web. The complainants will be assigned unique ID number with which they can track the progress of   complaints.

The complaint will be auto assigned to the concerned railway functionary for redressal.

Detailed MIS reports with various zone wise, division wise, type wise, filters will enable effective monitoring at the administrative end.

This Customer Complaint Portal will also be available in Hindi and other regional languages.

SMS based Complaint Management Application:-

Complaint or suggestion can be sent as free flow text as SMS to   the number 9717630982. Complaints will be also be assigned a unique complaint ID number which can be used for tracking.

Railways to reserve four seats in every coach for ex-armymen

Ex-army personnel will be given preference in reservation of two berths on each side of the coach as part of railways’ strategy to utilise their service in any emergency situation during the journey.

Railways expect that allocating two berths at each side of the coach is a strategical move to counter crime in trains.

“We are making certain modification in the software to reserve four seats – two in each side of the entry – in a coach for ex-army personnel,” said a senior Railway Ministry official.

The new system is expected to be operational next month. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu while addressing the conference on railway security also said there is a plan to utilise ex-armymen. He, however, did not elaborate the plan.

The Railways is currently plagued with increased crime particularly involving women passengers.

Decision to utilise the service of ex-armymen in emergency is one of the many initiatives being undertaken by railways to prevent crime in rail premises, he said.

According to the strategy, the side berths at entry points will be automatically reserved, once the ex-army personnel books a ticket in his name.

The official said currently there are no dedicated seats for the ex-armymen but by earmarking the seats we are trying to instill confidence in the passengers.

Currently RPF personnel are deployed in 1300 trains and GRP is deputed in 2200 trains.

According to the plan, RPF will be manning about 5000 trains with recruitment and training process of 16,500 personnel nearing completion.

Read more at: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com

IRCTC Online Booking - Amount debited but ticket not booked

Money debited but ticket not booked

The online payment at IRCTC involves complex system of technical and telecommunication networking integration between customer’s Internet bandwidth, IT system of banks and payment gateways and is dependent on internet connectivity across various constituents. 

Any failure or delay in this complex network may cause transaction failure before completion. This can raise the situation of money debited from the account but ticket not booked with the following possibilities: