NIC Proposal SMS Initiated EMU Unreserved Railway Booking Solution
NIC Proposal SMS Initiated EMU Unreserved Railway Booking Solution
NIC Proposal SMS Initiated EMU Unreserved Railway Booking Solution
Abstract
Everyday, more than 20 million people use the services of the Indian Railways.
Of this huge number, only about 5%, or roughly about 1 million people travel with properly reserved seats.
The remaining 19 million ( 95 % ) either travel by commuter trains popularly known as EMU / Local Trains OR by mail / passenger trains in the unreserved compartments.
While regular commuters use monthly passes, there is a huge percentage of unreserved passengers who have to go through the daily hassles and drudgery of buying tickets at the reservation counter.
All such users, as also the monthly pass users have to wait in long queues at those counters and witness the inefficient and slow rate of activities carried out by the reservation clerks.
This is sheer drudgery for both, those standing in the queues, and the reservation clerks.
Another problem that severely troubles INDIAN RAILWAYS is that a large percentage of people crowd the railway stations, with most of them not even paying for the services !
Very few care to buy Platform Tickets !
A major deterrent for the Indian populace to buying Platform Tickets is that they have to wait in long queues just for a Rs.3 ticket !
In some other instances, people have to face rude behavior, refusal to pay change etc. from the reservation clerks.
To avoid such frustrating incidents, people just choose not to but Platform Tickets !
The proposed system attempts to reduce drastically, if not eliminate, the drudgery described in the Abstract section.
EMU / Mail / Passenger train bookings are simple and require minimum inputs while reservation.
Platform Tickets require no input at all other than the number of Tickets required !
Hence, this can be automated using simple, cheap and easy-to-use telecom solutions such as the Short-Message-Service (SMS).
An automated intervention-free system will drastically reduce the drudgery in the lives of daily passengers / commuters / platform users.
Proposal By :
Arindam Bandyopadhyay
+919811894532
Residence Address : I-1639, First Floor, Chittaranjan Park, New Delhi - 110019, INDIA.
Solution / Technology
ATTACHMENTS
Network Topology Diagram (PNG Image).
Logic FlowChart (PNG Image).
These contain the details of the solution in graphical / pictorial format which will present the idea in clearer terms.
Additionally, the diagram contains the requisite SMS Formats with parameter details (Onward & Return both) acceptable by a centralized number allocated to the INDIAN RAILWAYS.
The textual description follows below.
DESCRIPTION OF PROTOCOL
As seen in the block diagram & Flowchart, the passenger will use his mobile phone to send an SMS to a centralized number.
The telecom service provider will then forward the booking request to the INDIAN RAILWAYS secure site for booking the ticket.
The applications server installed at the INDIAN RAILWAYS regional/zonal booking center will analyze the SMS input parameters and validate them as described below in VALIDATIONS section.
A) POSITIVE WORK FLOW
In case all validations PASS, the applications server will signal the passengers telecom service provider to deduct Total Ticket Charges + SMS Charges.
The telecom service provider will deduct the amount and signal SUCCESS back to INDIAN Railways Applications Server along with a Generated Booking ID.
The INDIAN Railways Applications Server will then apply its ticketing logic and make necessary entries in the INDIAN RAILWAYS centralized database, as is the case with the current booking system followed by reservation clerks.
The ticket booking data will be saved, a PNR Number generated, and the total ticket amount will be sent back to the passengers mobile phone.
Proposal By :
Arindam Bandyopadhyay
+919811894532
Residence Address : I-1639, First Floor, Chittaranjan Park, New Delhi - 110019, INDIA.
T [L/P/M]
Train Type
NN(A)
NN(C)
SSSSSS
Source Station
DDDDDD
Destination Station
Return SMS
( Confirmation )
[Acceptable Values :
PNR Number
DD/MM/YYYY
HH:MM:SS
T [L/P/M]
Train Type [ L / P / M ]
SSSSSS
Source Station
DDDDDD
Destination Station
NN(A)
No. Of Adults
NN(C)
No. Of Children
Rs.AAA
Rs.CCC
Rs.NNN
Arindam Bandyopadhyay
P = Passenger]
XXX-YYYZZZZ
Proposal By :
M = Mail,
+919811894532
Residence Address : I-1639, First Floor, Chittaranjan Park, New Delhi - 110019, INDIA.
Platform Ticketing
Forward SMS ( Booking )
NN
Return SMS
( Confirmation )
XXXXXXXXXXX
DD/MM/YYYY
HH:MM:SS
SSSSSS
NN
Rs.AAA
Rs.NNN
___
Proposal By :
Arindam Bandyopadhyay
+919811894532
Residence Address : I-1639, First Floor, Chittaranjan Park, New Delhi - 110019, INDIA.