IT can save money for railway passenger and Govt.

By siliconindia   |   Friday, 26 February 2010, 01:01 IST
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New Delhi: The railway budget might not have many high-tech schemes this year, but the proposed SMS updates on the punctuality of trains will help the customers in a big way. Such updates on reservation upgradation are also slated to save passengers from running countless checks on whether their coach numbers changed at the last minute, reports Economic Times. "Interestingly, investments in the passenger SMS facilities will not require much additional investments by IRCTC since basic infrastructure for the facility already exists. Some adjustments in the software and linking of the passenger train movement system with the SMS facility will do the trick," said an IRCTC official. The budget also includes plans to adopt RFID technology for tracking wagons carrying coal and iron ore on three zonal railways. The pilot project undertaken at an investment of about Rs 2 crore is underway for several months now. Under the system , roughly 1,000 wagons have been tagged, and trackside readers have been placed at 5 locations, at yards and loading and unloading points as part of the pilot. Anti-collision device (ACD) have already been installed on NF Railway and is now proposed to be extended to three more zonal railways. Four projects covering 828 route-kms for improving safety and preventing collision accidents will be implemented during the year. "Indian consumers, enterprises and government are realizing the need for accurate GPS solutions that can save time and money all the while heightening convenience for consumers. We believe that GPS-based optimized driver guidance system will be a welcome decision for Indian Railways which will improve the performance, arrival predictability and ensure safe destination arrival for passengers," Rajat Tandon, Country Director, sales, NAVTEQ India, said.