Passenger Reservation Information SystemINDIAN RAILWAYS

What comes to your mind??INDIAN RAILWAYS

Second largest network in the world under single Management Largest Employer in India12 million Passenger everyday more than any rail system on earth500 million metric tons of freight annuallyLargest civilian government department in India15 Zones, 6853 stations.

Background

Increasing number of pasengers / customersRising input cost upto 200%Unavailibility of easy, correct & timely access to informationIneffecient management of resourcesRevenue leakagePoor Customer Service/Satisfaction

Problem

Reduce costReduce burden on staffImprove efficiencyProvide better Customer Service

Objective

What are the solutions to address the problems faced by Indian railways??INDIAN RAILWAYS

Adoption of Customer-centric IT applicationsPRSUTSNTESFOISIntegration of all reservation counters CONCERT ( Country wide Network of Reservation and Ticketing counters)

Solution

Passenger Reservation System (PRS)- www.indianrail.gov.inWeb enabledJourney Planning/Fare/AvailibilityReservation between any pair of stationAutomatic upgradationUses centralized database97% reservation made through PRS presently

Solution

IRCTC www.irctc.co.inTo remove burden on employees at booking counters.Online ticket reservation systemPayments can be made both on Debit/Credit CardUses the Centralised database of Railways

Solution

National Train Enquiry System (NTES) www.trainenquiry.comRunning position and arrival of trainInformation passed on to customers via IVRS and Web

Solution

Freight Operating Information System (FOIS) Instant information of current status of goods in transitHelps in managing inventoryHelps in assest utilization

Solution

Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) Introduced to address the issue of unreserved ticketsSystem uses centralized database to manage ticketing so that unreserved ticket can be bought from any terminal.Brought simplicity and flexibility into the process of procuring tickets even for unreserved class

Solution

*CONCERT NETWORK TOPOLOGYDelhi PRSMumbai PRSChennai PRSkolkata PRSSecunderabad PRS2 MBPS (x2) Leased Line2 MBPS (x2) Leased Line6

2 MBPS Leased Line2 MBPS (X 2) Leased Line2 MBPS Leased Line2 MBPS (x2) Leased LineDelhiSecBadCalcuttaMumbaiChennai

What are the benefits to customers from the solutions discussed??INDIAN RAILWAYS

OutcomesBenefits to customersTransperancyUniversal Booking CountersUpgradation/ instant update of StatusReduced wait timeCustomer satisfaction

Benefit to CustomersSubstantial reduction in the queue length and waiting time in queue for passengers by a drastic reduction in the transaction time per passenger. Dispersal of Railway booking offices to the neighbourhood of the passengers. Decongesting the station by having opened PRS booking locations away from the stations. Substantial reduction in the effort to go to distant railway stations based reservation office for booking of tickets. Reducing the last minute rush at the stations by e-ticketing

What are the benefits to Railways from the solutions discussed??INDIAN RAILWAYS

Benefits to RailwaysIncrease in the sale of tickets Increased revenueIncreased efficiencyOptimal utilisation of berthsAnalysis of traffic pattern for better overall planningReduction in Revenue lossesSaving on ManpowerEliminate possibilities of fraud

Outcomes

Correct charging of Fare and surcharges immediately after giving effect to fare changes by the Railway Board. Earlier, wires and circulars were required to reach each reservation office through post and then be interpreted and manually applied by each staff locally leading to innocent mistakes as well as intentional manipulation causing loss of revenue to the government and overcharging of passengers. Avoidance of mistakes in fare computation as the fares are now given by the central computer. Total transparency in reservation transactions across the country as all information has become universally accessible and each ticket has time, date and booking location printed on it. Better utilization of train berths by elimination of local quotas and the facility to automatically release vacant accommodation during preparation of train charts to downstream stations. Improvement in train occupancy by computerized upgradation of passengers from lower class to higher class of travel in case of vacancy in the higher class and waiting list in the lower class. Facilitating tourists and other visitors from abroad by enabling them to book and print their train journey tickets before they leave their own country.

Benefits to Railways

Issue of reservation ticket from any station to any station. Passenger journey to multiple laps of reservation can be handled from a single windowReservation services can offered round the clock 24x7.Change of train profile can be possible effectively and immediately.Dynamic definition of the advance reservation period is possible.Provides online aggregation of EIS figure such as revenue ,berth utilisation etc. and presentation of the summarised data in the from the operational systems store.Provides automatic database recovery against all kinds of hardware and software failures.Complete audit for transactions and data access.

Summary - Benefits of using IT

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*. *Substantial reduction in the queue length and waiting time in queue for passengers by a drastic reduction in the transaction time per passenger. Dispersal of Railway booking offices to the neighbourhood of the passengers. Decongesting the station by having opened PRS booking locations away from the stations. Substantial reduction in the effort to go to distant railway stations based reservation office for booking of tickets. Reducing the last minute rush at the stations by e-ticketing *Substantial reduction in the queue length and waiting time in queue for passengers by a drastic reduction in the transaction time per passenger. Dispersal of Railway booking offices to the neighbourhood of the passengers. Decongesting the station by having opened PRS booking locations away from the stations. Substantial reduction in the effort to go to distant railway stations based reservation office for booking of tickets. Reducing the last minute rush at the stations by e-ticketing *Correct charging of Fare and surcharges immediately after giving effect to fare changes by the Railway Board. Earlier, wires and circulars were required to reach each reservation office through post and then be interpreted and manually applied by each staff locally leading to innocent mistakes as well as intentional manipulation causing loss of revenue to the government and overcharging of passengers. Avoidance of mistakes in fare computation as the fares are now given by the central computer. Total transparency in reservation transactions across the country as all information has become universally accessible and each ticket has time, date and booking location printed on it. Better utilization of train berths by elimination of local quotas and the facility to automatically release vacant accommodation during preparation of train charts to downstream stations. Improvement in train occupancy by computerized upgradation of passengers from lower class to higher class of travel in case of vacancy in the higher class and waiting list in the lower class. Facilitating tourists and other visitors from abroad by enabling them to book and print their train journey tickets before they leave their own country.*Correct charging of Fare and surcharges immediately after giving effect to fare changes by the Railway Board. Earlier, wires and circulars were required to reach each reservation office through post and then be interpreted and manually applied by each staff locally leading to innocent mistakes as well as intentional manipulation causing loss of revenue to the government and overcharging of passengers. Avoidance of mistakes in fare computation as the fares are now given by the central computer. Total transparency in reservation transactions across the country as all information has become universally accessible and each ticket has time, date and booking location printed on it. Better utilization of train berths by elimination of local quotas and the facility to automatically release vacant accommodation during preparation of train charts to downstream stations. Improvement in train occupancy by computerized upgradation of passengers from lower class to higher class of travel in case of vacancy in the higher class and waiting list in the lower class. Facilitating tourists and other visitors from abroad by enabling them to book and print their train journey tickets before they leave their own country.*Changes in train profiles (train carriage addition, replacement, de-allocation), route structures, etc., can be made effective immediately with the appropriate contingency handling.Dynamic definition of the advance reservation period is possible. This feature facilitates defining different advance reservation periods for different trains.

Impact on SocietyWith an improvement of quality of services, CONCERTs implementation has had far reaching impacts on the society:-Less travel to know information (IVR) and book tickets, cancel/ modify from anywhere resulting inmore convenience less travelless petrol expenditureless pollution and therefore with solid infra-structure for service for public meaning prosperity for the country and society at large.It has also enabled passengers to find out the current status of the PNRs purchased from other PRSs through IVR just by doing a local call thereby saving on their STD bills.Possibilities of replication Proposals have been sent to Bangladesh Railway, Sri Lankan Railway, Malayasian Railway for the replication of this system for their ticketing in the past. **