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An efficient railway system is of utmost importance for any country as it is one of the key drivers for the overall economic health of the nation, especially through the kind of services and facilities it offers. In a geographically vast and diverse country like India, coupled with an exploding population, the railways is the main mode of communication and transportation for the citizens as well as goods. Further, it welds different parts of the country together with its elaborate network spread across the length and breadth of the country. It is also the key transportation medium for its armed forces, postal services, raw materials, and other produce like coal, iron ore, petroleum, fertilizers, cement, steel, and food grains as well as for business trips, travel, and tourism. The railways is, therefore, instrumental in industrial development of the country.

To support the ever-growing need for better transportationtypical to a modern socio-economic conditionthe Indian Railways has implemented two innovative enterprise-wide information systems that have been the turning point for the railways. While Freight Operation Information System (FOIS) transformed the way Indian freight trains operated, introduction of Passenger Reservation System (PRS) revolutionized traveling by railways in India. The further expansion of the online Passenger Reservation System through the implementation of Country Wide Network for Computerized Enhanced Reservation and Ticketing (CONCERT) has enabled anytime and anywhere ticketing possible for the Indian commuters.

A Journey Made Easy
The Indian Railways Passenger Reservation System (PRS) has been one of the landmark projects initiated by the Railway Ministry. If FOIS is the bloodline of the Indian Railways, PRS is its lifeline. To have a more enhanced and effective automated system in placeas far as ticketing and reservation is concernedthe Railway Board went ahead with the introduction of Country Wide Network for Computerized Enhanced Reservation and Ticketing (CONCERT). The online PRS and CONCERT acts as a customer interface of providing reserved accommodation to commuters of the Indian Railways.

The PRS is the first comprehensive information technology application that was introduced by the in the year 1986. However, the system had its own limitations. It was only in 1999, when CONCERT was implemented and enabled the railways to have a fully integrated online ticketing and passenger reservation system in place. This was a major initiative by that created history and made anytime and anywhere ticketing for long distance traveling a reality in India. Prior to that, people had to purchase tickets from separate counters in case the boarding station was different from the purchase point of the ticket. For example, if a passenger wanted to buy tickets for a journey from Kolkata to Chennai, he/she can get it from a counter located at Kolkata. But to buy the return ticket, wherein his boarding source would be Chennai, he had to go to a separate counter and again stand in the queue to complete the transaction. The second phase of PRS helped anywhere-to-anywhere ticketing a reality, and subsequently enabled e-ticketing facility for passengers. The whole application was integrated and connected through CONCERT in order to have a fully integrating system in place. This anywhere-to-anywhere ticketing actually revolutionized and changed the face of Indian Railways and passengers were highly benefited and served in a better, efficient, and transparent manner.

It was in the early 90s that CRIS started working on the second version of PRS. And the fully networked PRS application through CONCERT was completed in 1997. By 1999 the entire project was implemented across all major booking counters in India. The application is based on five PRS server clusters placed in New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, and Secunderabad. It presently operates from counters at 1,800 locations across the country.

Out of the total passengers carried by the railways, inter-city passengers constitutes a mere 9% of the total volume. But, this small proportion, out of the total, generates about 176 mn passengers out of a total of 341 mn passengers who travel daily. This amounts to about 52% of the total. This segment also bring in a revenue of Rs 42.9 bn in a total passenger revenue of Rs 60 bn, constituting roughly 72% of the total. The seats/berths reservation system on trains is a fairly complex activity. Its not only voluminous, involving more than 600,000 seats/berths reservations per day, but also because of seven different categories of trains operating, using seventy-two types of coaches with seven classes of reservation, more than forty types of quotas and more than eighty kinds of concessional tickets. The method of calculation of fare is also quite complex as charges are based on the distance, comfort level provided in each category of trains and coaches and the transit time. Because of this complexity and sheer volume involved, the railways undertook the tedious job of automating ticketing and reservation system through online system.

A pilot project consisting of a few popular trains was first implemented at New Delhi in November 1985. Upon its success, the entire New Delhi reservation system was computerized in May 1987. The standalone VAX computer systems were further implemented at remaining three metropolitan citiesnamely, Mumbai (June 1987), Kolkata (July 1987) and Chennai (October 1987), and they account for over 40% of reservation volume. The last standalone cyber computer system was implemented at Secunderabad in July 1989, which was subsequently replaced by VAX computer system in January 95.

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