Limitless posibility for IT companies in Railways: Lalu

New Delhi, Jun 25 (UNI) Leveraging Information Technology as an area of ''limitless possibilty'' for Indian Railways, Lalu Prasad today asked software companies to hop on its bandwagon and make the transport behemoth an IT-driven enterprise friendly to passengers and customers.

''The possibility of IT application for streamling the operation of the Railways is limitless. I am sure a constructive bonding between the Railways and IT companies can be formed for mutual benefits,'' Mr Prasad said.

The minister, who was the chief guest at the ''NASSCOM IT User Awards'' function, said the Railways had hammered out an ambitious IT contract to integrate its freight, financial and employee management.

Once operationalised, it will become the largest Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) contract ever implemented in the country.

The system will manage the database of about 25 lakh railway employees, including 11 lakh pensioners.

Leading IT companies like Wipro, IBM, TCS, Infosys and Oracle have shown their keenness to participate in the venture, firm in their belief that it will make profitable business deals for them.

'' The project involves making an integrated portal-based system for tracking freight management, warehouse planning, financial management and billing. The solution will also include a Human Resource Management System (HRMS),'' Mr Prasad said.

He said the Railways had earned a cash surplus of Rs 20,000 crore during the fiscal 2006-07 through implementation of a well thought out strategy, but it lacked a commercial portal of its own.

Pointing out that the Railways desperately needed a commercial portal, especially for streamlining its freight operations, he said such a facility would help consumers and freight operators track the movement of goods trains, get information on availability of wagons and also make online bids for tenders.

Mr Prasad, who gave away the awards to nine companies and entities in various segments, also received a Special Award on behalf of the Indian Railways for its pioneering use of technology that has touched millions of lives and promises to make travelling by train a pleasurable experience.

The award was presented to him by NASSCOM President Kiran Kartik.

Among the major IT initiatives of the Railways are giving hand-held computers to ticket examiners, building cyber cafes at stations, digitising the signalling system, developing a commercial portal integrating existing web sites, linking all online applications with the computerised reservation system and tracking the passenger and freight trains.

Expressing his determination to make Indian Railways the leading railways system in the world, he said IT companies could help it delivering world class services and amenities.

The Railways has started various activities on its web site, managed by the Centre for Railway Information System (CRIS) such as ticket booking, PNR status check, train status enquiry and train schedules. Its Passenger Reservation System (PRS), which is among the largest in the world, provides facilities such as e-tickets and home-delivered I-tickets.

The need for making Railways' operations IT-based stems from the fact that the existing database exists in paper files and thereby prone to errors.

The Railways carry about 5.5 lakh passengers in reserved accommodation everyday. The PRS facilitates booking and cancellation of train tickets from any of the 4000 terminals across the country.

It runs around 11,000 trains everyday, of which 7,000 are passenger trains carrying 13 million passengers/day.

''We want to integrate our freight, financial and employee management. A number of railway portals are alreay functioning but there is an imperative need for their integration for a more efficient functioning,'' he added.

The minister also pointed out that the decision to construct two dedicated eastern and western freight corridors at an estimated cost of Rs 30,000 crore had lent an urgency to the Railways' plan for developing its full-fledged portal.

NASSCOM President Karnik said ''Indian Railways is an extraordinary example of a turnaround story and their plans of PPP for IT (which includes optimisation and consolidation of multiple applications and Mission 2015 plan) make sit a challenging and exciting opportunity for IT companies.'' UNI