IT initiatives from the Railway Budget 2014-15

Social media has been abuzz with commentary on the Railway Budget all day today. The overall sentiment seems to be positive and here, we showcase the IT (Information Technology) announcements made during the Railway Budget 2014-15:

• Revamping railway reservation system into next generation e-ticketing system
• E-ticketing to support 7200 tickets per minutes to allow 1,20,000 simultaneous users.
• Augmentation of Coin operated Automatic Ticket Vending Machines.
• Provision of platform tickets and unreserved tickets over internet.
• GIS mapping and Digitisation of Railway land.
• Shift towards large scale Integrated computerization of major functions of Indian Railways to take place. This includes:

1. Paperless offices in Indian Railways in 5 years.
2. Wi-fi Services in A1 and A category stations and in select trains.
3. Real-time tracking of trains and rolling stock.
4. Mobile based Wakeup Call System for passengers.
5. Mobile based Destination Arrival Alert.
6. Station Navigation Information System.
7. Extension of Dual Display Fare Repeaters at all the Ticket
8. Counters through PPP.
9. Digital reservation charts at Stations (Bangalore model).
10. Extension of Computerized Parcel Management System.
11. Extension of logistics support to various e-commerce Companies by providing designated pick-up centres at identified Stations.
12. Providing education to children of Railway staff at remote locations through Railtel OFC (optical fibre cable) network.

Tell us what do you think of these initiatives and what is your view of the overall railway budget? 

Startups related to the railways:

Building technology to make Indian Railways safer: Solfice

How startup I-infinity managed to power digital signages on Mumbai locals

Travelkhana Launches as an India-Wide Meal Booking Platform for Rail passengers