International Journal of Information Science and Computing
Citation: ISC: 08(02): 103-118, December 2021
DOI: 10.30954/2348-7437.2.2021.6
Received: 02-08-2021 Revised: 24-10-2021 Accepted: 29-11-2021
How to cite this article: Chatterjee, R. (2021). Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS)-e Automated Railway Management
System: A Case Study. IJISC., 08(02): 103-118.
Source of Support: None; Conflict of Interest: None
Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS)-The
Automated Railway Management System: A Case Study
Ritam Chatterjee
Department of Computer and Information Science, Raiganj University, West Bengal, India
Corresponding author: [email protected]
Received: 02-08-2021 Revised: 24-10-2021 Accepted: 29-11-2021
ABSTRACT
Railway is the backbone of Indian transportation system. To operate the railway system, it is necessary
to manage different functionalities. India Railway has many departments to operate the system correctly
and cost effectively. To minimize the risk and to maximize the protability railway has an efcient
Railway Management System. Centre for Railway Information Systems or CRIS is an important Railway
Management Information Systems. The purpose of this paper is to give an overview about Centre for
Railway Information Systems. Different projects under CRIS has also discussed here. Different emerging
technologies use by CRIS has also discussed here. Flow charts are used to explain the ticket booking
concept easily. Contact information of different ofcials has also shared in this paper.
Keywords: Centre for Railway Information Systems, Railway Information Systems, CRIS, Railway
Management System etc.
Globally Railway is one of the biggest networks of transportation. To manage and operate the railway
network correctly and smoothly the whole system needs a strong and reliable Information system and a
strong Information Technology infrastructure.
Centre for Railway Information Systems or CRIS is an organization under the Ministry of railways,
Government of India. The main task of CRIS is to design, development, maintenance of different
Information Systems used in India Railway. It has been successfully implemented by the unique
collaboration of Information Technology professionals with the experience Railway personals. It has
used different modern technologies to successfully execute all the projects under CRIS. Digital railway
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is one of the parts of Digital India program. CRIS is an important information system for Indian Railway
to manage different departments systematically.
Objectives
Railway is very important mode of transportation for the passengers and for the goods. It is a huge network
spread all over the country. The objectives of this study are:
To learn about the Centre for Railway Information Systems - CRIS
To know the different projects executed by CRIS
To know the different Technologies used in CRIS
To know the useful contact information of the ofcials
To discuss the Advantages and the Challenges to CRIS
To get a futuristic concept in CRIS
Methodology Adopted
The research work entitled ‘Projects of Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS)-The automated
Railway Management System: A Case Study’ is an interdisciplinary work and it is theoretical in nature.
Various secondary sources from different areas and subjects viz. Information Technology, Communication
Technology, ICT, Information System, Railway management, Railway Information systems etc. are used
to complete this work. Although the concept of this research is to study the different technologies used
in CRIS. Various web sites are analyzed and reviewed to gather different information and to make the
case study.
Projects under CRIS
Different projects have successfully executed under CRIS. The projects are as follows:
Software Projects
CRIS has develop, implements and maintain various types of software projects. The projects are as follows-
Ticketing and Passenger
Ticketing and passenger service is one of the main tasks of CRIS. The details are described below-
Unreserved Ticketing System
Unreserved Ticketing System is one of the important tasks of CRIS. UTS is used to book
the unreserved tickets by the passengers at railway counter. In August 2002, he unreserved
ticketing system has began as a pilot project at Northern Railway. One of the pioneers of this
centralized ticketing system was self-printing ticket machines (SPTMs) but this standalone
system was phased out with the advent of UTS.
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Initially, there was the central hardware architecture at station level because of the event of
network failures it could server to the customer effectively using the dumb terminals and
dot matrix printers. As the reliability of the network has improved, a new design has been
implemented by introducing thin client machine supply to booking operators. Each Zonal
Railway is responsible for operating UTS counters and running services smoothly. CRIS only
maintains the UTS application and ensures business continuity at the system level.
The passenger may book the unreserved tickets from the following system:
UTS at Railway Station Counters
Fig. 1: Ticket Counter
UTS at online ticketing system
The passenger may book the tickets using website - www.utsonmobile.indianrail.gov.
in
Fig. 2: Online UTS Ticket service
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UTS Mobile Apps
Fig. 3: UTS Ticket service
Cash-Coin & Smart Card operated ticket vending machine (CoTVM)
Fig. 4: CoTVM Ticket service
Jan Sadharan Ticket Booking Sewa (JTBS)
Fig. 5: Jan Sadharan Ticket Booking Sewa (JTBS)
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Automatic ticket vending machines (ATVM)
Fig. 6: ATVM Ticket service
Yatri Ticket Suvidha Kendra (YTSK)
Passenger Reservation system
Passenger Reservation System is one of the challenging tasks of CIRS. Passenger Reservation
system is used to book reservation ticket for the passengers. It is world largest Passenger Reservation
system which is developed, implemented and maintained by CIRS.
The main advantage of this system is that anyone can book the ticket from anywhere and anytime
(except the maintenance time).
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and different modern technologies like
Articial Intelligence, Cloud Computing Technologies, Big Data Analysis, Data Mining etc. has
working simultaneously to execute the system smoothly. Country-wide Network for Computerized
Enhanced reservation and Ticketing(CONCERT) which is a distributed database model having 3
tier Client Server architecture with 4 data centres at New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai
has also perform a vital role in Passenger Reservation System.
The passengers get the facility to reserve train berth/seat upto
6 person at a time from anywhere. They might book the ticket
using website in online mode or through the mobile phones
without required to go to the rail reservation centers.
Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC)
is the Subsidiary company under Indian Railways, Ministry of
Railways, Government of India. It provides ticketing, catering
and tourism services for the Indian Railways. CRIS has
designed and hosted the Next Generation e-Ticketing (NGeT)
System for the ticket booking to the passenger.
The passenger may book the reserved tickets from the following
system:
Fig. 7: Rail Connect Mobile
application
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Next Generation e-Ticketing (NGeT) system using online platform
IRCTC Rail Connect Mobile Apps
The passenger may book the reserved tickets from the following system:
Next Generation e-Ticketing (NGeT) system using online platform:
(i)
Open - https://www.irctc.co.in
(i) Search train on
following parameters
From
To
Date of Journey
Class of journey
Category of Journey
(ii) Log in
Is Resister
user
Yes
No
(iii) Register and create
user Id and Password
(iv) Suggesting the running
train according to choice
Select appropriate train and click on Book Now
(v) Give the confirmation
(vi) Enter Passenger Details
Contact Details
Destination Address
Other preferences
And select Payment Mode
(vii) Journey Review
(viii)Select Payment Methods
(ix) Pay and Book Ticket
Stop
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(v)
(vi)
(vii)
(viii)
(ix)
Fig. 8: Flowchart of Reservation Ticket booking
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National Train Enquiry System
National Train Enquiry System is a software which is used to provide real time train running
information and train status to the passenger in effective, reliable and user friendly manner.
RPF Security Helpline 182
Railway Protection Force Security Help line no is 182. It is a 24X7 help line for the passengers.
Any kind of complain related to the train could be register through the help line number. It is an
Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) supported and integrated system. It could register, reporting,
monitoring, tracking and resolution of security complaints. 72-Divisions have integrated with
ACD. Daily more than 10000 Average calls have received by the ACD. Monthly more than 2000
average Security Related calls have received. People may access the helpline through the following
website- https://182rpf.indianrailways.gov.in.
Freight and Operations
Control Ofce Application
Control ofce application has many functionality including charting of running trains, monitoring
line occupancy, cautions orders, abnormal working, it provide facilities to order train, view all
possible routes, crew, locomotive details etc.
Freight Operations Information System
Freight Operations Information Systems creates perfect statistics of loading, earning and freights.
It generates systematic allocation plan for the several commodities for perfect allotment of rakes.
B2B integrations with some application like COA, ICMS, CMS.
Integrated Coaching Management System
Integrated Coaching Management System is used for following purposes:
Online punctuality assessment and reporting.
Online asset failure reporting an analysis.
Centralize reporting an data entry system.
Digitalization of coaches, rakes and locomotives.
Parcel Management System
The functionalities of Parcel Management System are as follows:
Automatic Parcel booking and tracking system.
It provides online parcel booking activities to the peoples.
It helps to track the parcel through SMS.
Automatically calculate penalties, concession, demurrage, etc.
Real Time Train Information System
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Asset management
Track Management System
Track Management System is used to manage the track efciently. Track management system
has following operations-:
Implementation of data collection technique through digitalization of track assets and it
maintains information about tracks.
To avoid physical inspection of track, register through online to keep records.
Data validation and verication done automatically to improve the quality of the inspection.
Traction Distribution Management System
Most challenging task of Railway is to manage the traction distribution. It is very difcult
to supply electric power to running Locomotive through Traction Distribution. It is very
complex to design a system for overall management, inspections recording and proactive
traction maintenance in order to improve traction assets reliability. It is a customized Traction
Assets Management tool which is a single point destination for all needs of Traction Assets
information and maintenance. It has the following features:
Traction Assets Master
Inspection and Maintenance
OHE Failure Recording
Real Time Data Logging
GPS Based Tracking
Exception generation and SMS based alert
Integration Capabilities with different Asset management systems of Railways, likes- Track
management, Signal Assets management etc.
Web site of access TDMS is- https://tdms.railsaver.gov.in/TDMS/
Human Resource & Accounting
Accounting Information Management System
RPF Security Management System
Procurement & Automation
E-Working Software Solution
Employee Self Service & Internal Applications
E-Procurement System
e-Drishti / RailDrishti
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Infrastructure
CLOUD TECHNOLOGY
To use the recourses optimally it is necessary to update the system. Centralized Procurement
and Installation of common infrastructure is one of the main goals to adopt Cloud Computing
Technology. To enhance the security and to make the system more reliable it is necessary to
virtualize the system.
Mobile Applications
Centre for Railway Information Systems- CRIS have designed, developed and maintains the
various mobile applications. The applications are as follows:
NTES
UTS
RAIL SAARTHI
RESS-Railway Employee Self Service
Rail Connect
TDMS
IREPS-Aapoorti
Chalak Dal
Rail Madad
Rail Sugam
ICMS
Rail Saver
HRMS
NTES
NTES means National Train Enquiry System. It gives the real time trains running status. It is used for
the following purposes:
Spot the Train with Map feature-It is possible to spot any train either by Train Number or by Train
Name. It is possible to select a particular station to get better result.
Live Station Information- It is possible to get live station information about the train between a
particular time intervals.
Train Schedule with save feature
Train available between two stations
Cancelled Trains
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Rescheduled Trains
Diverted Trains
Manage favorite trains, stations and train schedules
UTS
Fig. 9: UTS Application Poster for passenger
It gives the facility to pay the amount digitally using various options such as Rail Wallet, Debit Card,
Credit Card, Net Banking, UPI, e-Wallets etc. It gives 5% bonus amount on recharge to Rail wallet.
R-Wallet can be recharged through:
UTS Mobile Application
Debit card of any Bank
Credit Card
Net Banking
Unreserved Ticket Counter at all stations
Websites:- www.utsonmobile.indianrail.gov.in
RAIL SAARTHI
Rail Saarthi is All-in-One Railway mobile application. The full form of Saarthi in the name of the
application is Synergized Advanced Application Rail Travel Help and Information. It is an integrated
mobile application of India Railway to manage multiple mobile application of Railway.
Rail Saarathi application has managed the following applications:
Ticketing
Reserved Ticketing-IRCTC
Unreserved Ticketing-UTS
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Enquiry
Rail Drishti
Tran Running- NTES
PNR Enquiry-PNR
Seat Availability-Accomodation
Fare Enquiry-Fare
Afliated Services
AIR Ticket Booking-IRCTC AIR
Food on Track- IRCTC Catering
Tour Booking- IRCTC Tourism
Book Retire Room – Retiring Room
Feedback
Complains/Suggestions- Rail MADAD
RESS-Railway Employee Self Service
Railway Employee Self Service is a mobile application. It is developed by CRIS under AIMS portal.
It is designed to provide the employees nancial data and personal data. An employee has to register
himself to access his/her personal details, Salary information, PF, loan and income tax projections. The
employee may download his/her pay slips from this portal.
Rail Connect
Rail Connect is an application which deals the transportation and revenue management services for
railroads, rail shippers and rail leasing companies. IRCTC’s Rail Connect is a great way to book and
cancel tickets. Travelers can book their tickets through the IRCTC phone app, and also make payments
using the IRCTC e-wallet. Users can deposit money in their e-wallet from their respective banks, and use
the money to book tickets. The passenger can easily book train tickets and cancel the tickets again very
easily. Passengers can also order their own food through the IRCTC Rail Connect application. The Rail
Connect app had more than 30 million users and downloads in the two years since its launch. In addition,
more than 140 million tickets have been booked since 2017, with over 4.5 million daily ticket bookings.
TDMS
Traction Distribution Management System is used to manage the traction assets information and
maintenance.
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IREPS-Aapoorti
IREPS means the Indian Railway E-Procurement system. The main purpose of this application is to
maintain a web portal for e-tendering and re-auctioning related various projects. This is an ofcial web
app of Indian Railways which is used for collecting various items and auctioning non-essential items.
The Ireps app can also be accessed at www.iepf.gov.in. Indian Railways digital signature application
with dual proof. Login Enter the username and password rst. Provide your signature certicate at the
next stage and act accordingly.
Chalak Dal
Chalak Dal is a crew information system type mobile application. The chalak dal is the Indian Railway
Information System Android application. The ofcial app of Indian Railways, Chalak Dal App, was
launched to manage crew, loco inspectors and crew working. The key feature of crew management is
crew strength.
Rail Madad
Rail Madad is a mobile application designed by CRIS for desired assistance during travel.It is a part of
the Railway Passenger Grievance Redressal and Management System (RPGRAMS). On 21
st
February,
2015 Ministry of External Affairs launched an online grievance monitoring system launched. Passengers
who travel by train will register themselves in the rail Madad app to complain if they have any problem
and then they will lodge their complaint there and based on how serious the complaint is. The decision
will be taken after proper evaluation by the Ministry of Railways. The rail madad app is a key platform
for Indian Railways passengers to lodge complaints and resolve their grievances appropriately.
The rail madad app was originally launched by the Delhi Division, the Northern Railway. It is a platform
for passengers to lodge complaints and take action in response to such complaints. At the next stage, the
passenger will be informed about the action taken by Mantra on the basis of the complaint via a customized
SMS and the next step and the passenger will be redirected to his / her ID via SMS.
Rail Sugam
Rail Sugam App is one of the rst mobile apps of Indian Railways to provide special help in providing
information anytime, anywhere in the freight business. This app was created using Google Maps to provide
performance terminal handling contact details in addition to advanced GIS view.This app also provides
contact details of the concerned ofcials. The app also provides consignment travel details, advanced GIS
data and gives the traveler the expected time of his arrival. Some information of rail Sugam mobile app is:
IR freight operation capacity,
Any important IR website,
Freight terminal and
Freight trucking.
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The others use full applications are:
ICMS is Integrated Coaching Management System. It is used to manage the coach information
and coach management.
Rail Saver is an energy management system. It helps to manage the electric consumption and
reduce the electricity bill and helps achieve sustainability.
HRMS is a Human Resource Management System. It helps to manage the employees’ information.
All job related information has stored and managed by this management system.
Career or Recruitments
To manage the different types of activities, Centre for Railway Information Systems - CRIS provides
different types of career options to the different categories of people. Some of the career options are as
follows:
Permanent post
Deputation post
◊ Gazetted
◊ Non-Gazetted
Engagement after Retirement
◊ Project Assistants
◊ Project Ofcers Etc.
Contact Information’s
Head Ofce
Centre For Railway Information Systems
Chanakya Puri, New Delhi – 110021, Ph - 011-24104525, Fax : 26877893
Head Ofce (ITPI Campus)
Centre For Railway Information Systems
ITPI Building, 4-A Outer Ring Road, IP Estate, New Delhi-110002, Ph-011-23379935
Regional Ofce Delhi
Centre For Railway Information Systems, Room No-19, IRCA Building, Chelmsford Road, Near
Railway Reservation Complex, Paharganj, New Delhi-110055, Phone - 011-23366846
Regional Ofce Kolkata
CRIS, 2
nd
& 11
th
Floor, New Koilaghat Building, 14
th
Strand Road, Kolkata-700001, Phone - 033-
22318813
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Regional Ofce Secunderabad
CRIS, 1
st
Floor, Railway Reservation Complex, S.C. Rly, Secunderabad-500025
Phone - 040-27702116
Regional Ofce Mumbai
CRIS, 4
th
Floor, New Annex (PRS) Building, CST, Mumbai-400001, Phone - 022-22702160
Regional Ofce Chennai
CRIS, 3
rd
Floor, Western Wing, Moore Market Complex, Park Town, Chennai-600003, Phone -
044-25330893
Public Information Ofcer
Shri Chander Shekhar (Registrar), Room No. 124, Center for Railway Information Systems,
Chanakyapuri, New Delhi -110021, Phone : 011- 26112515, Fax : 011- 26877893, E-mail :
shekhar[email protected]
Appellate Authority
Shri Dinesh Kumar Singh, Room No. 119, Center for Railway Information Systems
Chanakyapuri, New Delhi-110021, Phone : 24672421, E-mail : [email protected]
Asst Public Information Ofcer
Shri Soma Sekhara Rao S, Room No.117, Center for Railway Information Systems
Chanakyapuri, New Delhi -110021, Phone : 24103014, E-mail : [email protected]
CONCLUSION
Railway is a very essential mode of transportation for all the countries. The countries economy is
completely depending on the railway system. The more strong the railway networks have a country, the
more revenue it would generate. Thus, to become more sustainable, reliable and cost-effective mode of
transportation, the railway system does not have any alternative.
In this study it is only consider the features of CRIS and the current projects of CRIS. There are many
other organizations but CRIS is only considered here for the study. This study is restricted to the Indian
Railway system only. The emerging technologies have just given an overview in this study. At present the
scope of implementation of the emerging technologies is very large. CRIS is a very stable Information
System for Indian Railway. It is expected CRIS will give better services in near future too.
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