Railway Budget 2014: 11 tech initiatives that should have been introduced long ago

New Delhi: Union Railways Minister Sadanand Gowda in his maiden budget presented new technology initiatives that would further help in improving the passenger experience on Indian Railways.

The Railways has proposed real-time tracking of trains and rolling stocks, mobile-based wakeup call system for passengers, mobile-based destination arrival alert and WiFi Services in A-1 and A category stations and in select trains.

Much of the tech initiatives annnounced in the Railway Budgert 2014-15 actually should have been introduced long ago. Here are 11 initiatives that we believe will enhance consumer experience but took a long time coming.

1. Railway Reservation System will be revamped into next generation e-ticketing system. Indian Railways will improve the system capabilities in e-ticketing to support 7200 tickets per minute as against 2000 tickets per minute and allow 1,20,000 simultaneous users at any point in time.

2. Provision of platform tickets and unreserved tickets over the Internet has also been proposed.

3. Coin-operated automatic ticket vending machines will be experimented.

4. Indian Railways will expand the scope of online booking for people to book a train, coach, berth, and a seat in chair car.

5. WiFi services in all A1 and A-category stations and in select trains will be provided.

6. Mobile-based wakeup call system and mobile-based destination arrival alert for passengers have also been proposed in the Rail Budget 2014-15.

7. Workstation facilities on select trains could soon be introduced.

8. Digital reservation charts at stations can soon be a reality.

9. Indian Railways has also proposed to set up food courts at major stations to provide the option of ordering regional cuisine while onboard, through emails, SMS and smartphones, etc. A pilot project will be started shortly between New Delhi-Amritsar and New Delhi-Jammu Tawi sections.

10. RPF escorting teams in trains will be provided mobile phones so that passengers can contact them when in distress.

11. Setting up of station navigation information system is another proposal.