Cris
Cris
Department of Computer and Information Science, Raiganj University, West Bengal, India
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 profitability railway has an efficient
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 officials 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
How to cite this article: Chatterjee, R. (2021). Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS)-The Automated Railway Management
System: A Case Study. IJISC., 08(02): 103-118.
Source of Support: None; Conflict of Interest: None
Chatterjee
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 officials
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.
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.
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
The passenger may book the reserved tickets from the following Fig. 7: Rail Connect Mobile
system: application
The passenger may book the reserved tickets from the following system:
Next Generation e-Ticketing (NGeT) system using online platform:
(ii)
(i)
Open - https://www.irctc.co.in
(ix)
(ix) Pay and Book Ticket
Stop
Asset management
Track Management System
Track Management System is used to manage the track efficiently. 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 verification 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 difficult
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/
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
Rescheduled Trains
Diverted Trains
Manage favorite trains, stations and train schedules
UTS
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
Enquiry
Rail Drishti
Tran Running- NTES
PNR Enquiry-PNR
Seat Availability-Accomodation
Fare Enquiry-Fare
Affiliated 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
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.
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 official 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 first. Provide your signature certificate 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 official 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 21st 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 first 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 officials. 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.
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 Officers Etc.
Contact Information’s
Head Office
Centre For Railway Information Systems
Chanakya Puri, New Delhi – 110021, Ph - 011-24104525, Fax : 26877893
Head Office (ITPI Campus)
Centre For Railway Information Systems
ITPI Building, 4-A Outer Ring Road, IP Estate, New Delhi-110002, Ph-011-23379935
Regional Office 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 Office Kolkata
CRIS, 2nd & 11th Floor, New Koilaghat Building, 14th Strand Road, Kolkata-700001, Phone - 033-
22318813
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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