Railway crew management in India
Encyclopedia
Indian Railway, the world's largest network (under a single management), consists of more than 100,000 Train Drivers/Assistant Drivers/Guards, which forms the basic functioning team, responsible for Train Operations.
A train has typical an Assistant driver and a Driver on the Locomotive. The Assistants are normally common but Drivers fall in various categories like Goods Drivers (or Loco Pilots used for running goods trains), Passenger Driver (Driver used to run slow moving Passenger carrying Trains), Mail Express Driver (Driver used to run high speed Passenger carrying Trains) and Rajdhani Drivers (Used for very high speed passenger carrying trains). There is yet another category of crew called 'Shunters' who operate only in yards, for moving trains within a particular station yard. Normally Shunters work alone without an Assistant.
The train at the rear end has Guards as its crew. They are categorised as goods guards, passenger guards and mail express guards based on the type of train on which they are working.
, eating disorder
s, and sleep disorder
s. That is why the Railway spends a lot on their trainings and resting time. They are booked from a crew changing point, informed well in advance, after ensuring that they have taken sufficient rest and completed all required trainings and requirements, those are mandatory for train operation. At the end of the journey, they are sent to well maintained rest rooms, given meals (home cooked) and rebooked back to their headquarters after giving minimum stipulated rest.
New Delhi
, an IT
development unit for Indian Railways, has developed a software named 'Crew Management System', wherein bookings of this sensitive category of people, which was done manually till now and monitored at various levels by Inspectors and Officers, is arranged through software. Crew Management System(CMS) is a unique system in which accuracy and monitoring is automatically maintained. The software system was rolled out in December 2007 and already installed at about 2200 data entry nodes at over 290 crew booking points. These are spread over entire Indian Railways
. CMS at present has a database covering 89,000 crew members and over 30000 crew members are being booked daily through the system. The work has been completed and provided with Thin client
s connected to a server cluster at CRIS, wherein all the functions like crew bookings, call served to crews, their signing on duties are done through computers after ensuring their rest,training and medical particulars. The job which was done manually till a few years back is now monitored automatically. Not only it has a single data base
of all the running staff of Indian Railways, but also have an all around reports(more than 500 reports of these crews are visible to the monitoring authorities of the Railways). All the officers sitting in their offices can monitor performance reports
of the train operating staff. This enhances the performance planning by the officers. The Ministry of Railways is also doing a great job by motivating such projects and giving sufficient funds for same. A Project which was initially started in Nov 2006 with a team of 5-6 software persons is now managed by a GM rank officer with a dedicated team of software developer
s and domain experts, who are basically attached to driving jobs since the last 15–20 years. The system caters for All gauges BG, MG, NG now.
/WAN
network components. The business transactions are transacted so as to provide timely information with increased productivity and reduced paper work to a great extent at the lobby locations. The CMS system is being implemented in the Railways Lobbies at 306 lobby (Location where Railways crew are booked) locations with touch screen along with biometric devices for Sign-On/Off of crew from their duties. The CMS software uses FOIS and Railways network with adequate provision for security in the system so that it is not be vulnerable to hacking from outside. It also has on-line application processing (distributed) & data inter-viewing at the Divisional and Zonal offices.
The different applications of CMS require various levels of organization hierarchy to access it via a web browser. This application extends to various stakeholders and provides a single window interface to the Train Crew.
The CMS software is a centralized architecture using n-tier Java EE architecture with Web Services/Struts framework which works in online mode. All the stakeholders access the applications after user authentication and authorization. The solution has high scalability, flexibility, reliability and is complaint to industry Open Standard specifications. The software solution is :-
• Compliant to n-tier Java EE architecture.
• Seamless integration of enterprise systems with the existing business applications.
• Single sign-on
feature.
• Open-standards platform supports web service.
• Extending existing applications for multiple devices.
• Utilizing full advantage of device features for management and interactions from a central location i.e. CRIS.
• User friendliness.
• End to end linux based System.
• Browser access via kiosks and thin clients access.
• Comprehensive data validations during capturing.
• Industry standards security features.
• Interface with SMS gateway for information dissemination and verification.
• Online pre-formatted and flexible period report generation.
• Highly flexible and high available solution with 24 x 7 uptime.
• Context sensitive help.
The software is in house software assisted by IBM & HCL in the designs and performance optimisation of the software. These steps are primarily for ensuring a robust and scalable architecture that conforms to open standards and promotes inter-operability duly taking care of the security concerns. The design and implementation of the CMS is expected to lead to the evolution of a truly robust architecture based on the principle of inter-operability and open standards.
System generated alerts are also sent to the required personnel in the following manner:-
a) Morning position of crew strength at various crew booking locations.
b) Alerts for crew strength at particular crew booking point going below a critical limit.
c) Automated alerts for their nominated Inspector, for crew becoming due for monitoring.
d) The crew can have his personnel information like turn of crew booking, Status, PME, Mileage and other Training due dates on his Mobile.
e) Congratulations on birthdays to crew members of whom date of birth are with the database.
s, where they use their thumb impression to sign on/sign off.This has removed the need of their signing in registers or remembering passwords. It is very user friendly and easily adaptable by the crew. Also, it has increased security and authentication as it eliminates the possibility of Proxy reporting.It is legally binding. Now BA (Breathalyzer
) capabilities are being added to Kiosks.It is very important from the point of view of safety running of the train. Herein, the crew blows from his mouth into the device, and if there is any alcohol content found,a thorough check is done.
/WAN
(FOIS) connectivity. The CMS system supports the stakeholders and has a centralized architecture based on the deployment pattern. The CMS system supports the browser-based clients originated from respective places.
The details of servers are
1. Edge Server in Active / Passive cluster
mode.
2. Web sphere ND in cluster Mode at OS as well as Application mode.
3. Database servers in Main Standby Cluster mode.
4. Tape Back up in LTO
5. SMS server to upload the smses to SMS gateway and response to the incoming smses to the clients.
6. LDAP directory server for user Authentication and security also in cluster
.
• All offices are synchronized at all times.
• Graphical User Interface for planning as well as for running daily operations with full checking mechanism.
• Time saving: crewing and payroll data need only be entered once.
• A combined system for crewing and payroll saves time and money
The software solution automates the day-to-day business functions of the crew thereby providing information of their status, rostering their duty allocations, providing information on the availability of crew at their home station and assigning crew to the trains. All this leads to better crew management. CMS has been developed to bring in transparency and greater accuracy of information so that decision makers can take effective business decisions to control crew and optimize on crew utilization. It provides for global tracking of all the crew on the CMS system in real time whether the crew is on train, resting at HQ, resting at outstation, on leave or training.
The system gives the planner optimum flexibility to construct highly efficient crew duty blocks resulting in improved crew utilization based on all national and company legal requirements. This can create corresponding reductions in manpower and costs. The solution architect for the CMS Solution is Environmental friendly and has been designed in such a way that the CMS uses the TFT
and thin client technology which saves lot of power for each crew booking locations over the conventional PC's and CRT monitors based system.
CMS is fully integrated, it maintain complete overall day-to-day administrative and operational control of the total crew resources throughout Rail route network. Quickly identifies additional crew resources to meet unforeseen situations. Availability, priority of presentation and any restrictions are listed in accordance with User-defined rules. Automatically identifies illegal or unqualified crews in accordance with pre-defined User rail regulations. Automatically generates crew schedule.
CMS database holds all the necessary information about each crew member including: basic data such as name, address, gender, nationality, date of birth and phone numbers
personal skills such as language speaking and professional skills such as the types of Crew and trainers' qualifications complete record of promotions - changes of rank, Keep a record of all training taken and the dates when they need to be renewed.
To break the monotony of crew while waiting for their turn at the crew booking lobby a quiz has been provided. QUICK implies Quiz for Improving Crew Knowledge. This is a crew knowledge evaluation and improvement Game.
Classification of drivers and guards
How vigorous is the job profile can be noted from this very fact that the Railway recruits persons as 'Assistant Loco Pilot' . They work on freight trains for as long as 10–12 years. During this tenure they are supposed to work with experienced Train Drivers and perform only assisting work during the run of a locomotive i.e. a train. An Assistant Driver thus learns the tactics and dos and don'ts required for train operation. Thereafter they are promoted as 'Shunter', after proper courses and practical trainings, wherein they are supposed to drive locomotives in sheds/yards at not more than 15 km/h speeds. After experiencing for not less than two years, they are promoted as 'Goods Drivers', who are always monitored by their respective 'Loco Inspectors'.A train has typical an Assistant driver and a Driver on the Locomotive. The Assistants are normally common but Drivers fall in various categories like Goods Drivers (or Loco Pilots used for running goods trains), Passenger Driver (Driver used to run slow moving Passenger carrying Trains), Mail Express Driver (Driver used to run high speed Passenger carrying Trains) and Rajdhani Drivers (Used for very high speed passenger carrying trains). There is yet another category of crew called 'Shunters' who operate only in yards, for moving trains within a particular station yard. Normally Shunters work alone without an Assistant.
The train at the rear end has Guards as its crew. They are categorised as goods guards, passenger guards and mail express guards based on the type of train on which they are working.
Earlier working scenario
The job of a Driver consists of irregular rest and working hoursWorking time
Working time is the period of time that an individual spends at paid occupational labor. Unpaid labors such as personal housework are not considered part of the working week...
, eating disorder
Eating disorder
Eating disorders refer to a group of conditions defined by abnormal eating habits that may involve either insufficient or excessive food intake to the detriment of an individual's physical and mental health. Bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, and binge eating disorder are the most common specific...
s, and sleep disorder
Sleep disorder
A sleep disorder, or somnipathy, is a medical disorder of the sleep patterns of a person or animal. Some sleep disorders are serious enough to interfere with normal physical, mental and emotional functioning...
s. That is why the Railway spends a lot on their trainings and resting time. They are booked from a crew changing point, informed well in advance, after ensuring that they have taken sufficient rest and completed all required trainings and requirements, those are mandatory for train operation. At the end of the journey, they are sent to well maintained rest rooms, given meals (home cooked) and rebooked back to their headquarters after giving minimum stipulated rest.
Latest developments
Centre for Railway Information SystemsCentre for Railway Information Systems
The Centre for Railway Information Systems located in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, was established as a registered society in 1986 by the Ministry of Railways of India, as an umbrella organization for all computer activities on Indian Railways...
New Delhi
New Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
, an IT
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
development unit for Indian Railways, has developed a software named 'Crew Management System', wherein bookings of this sensitive category of people, which was done manually till now and monitored at various levels by Inspectors and Officers, is arranged through software. Crew Management System(CMS) is a unique system in which accuracy and monitoring is automatically maintained. The software system was rolled out in December 2007 and already installed at about 2200 data entry nodes at over 290 crew booking points. These are spread over entire Indian Railways
Indian Railways
Indian Railways , abbreviated as IR , is a departmental undertaking of Government of India, which owns and operates most of India's rail transport. It is overseen by the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India....
. CMS at present has a database covering 89,000 crew members and over 30000 crew members are being booked daily through the system. The work has been completed and provided with Thin client
Thin client
A thin client is a computer or a computer program which depends heavily on some other computer to fulfill its traditional computational roles. This stands in contrast to the traditional fat client, a computer designed to take on these roles by itself...
s connected to a server cluster at CRIS, wherein all the functions like crew bookings, call served to crews, their signing on duties are done through computers after ensuring their rest,training and medical particulars. The job which was done manually till a few years back is now monitored automatically. Not only it has a single data base
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
of all the running staff of Indian Railways, but also have an all around reports(more than 500 reports of these crews are visible to the monitoring authorities of the Railways). All the officers sitting in their offices can monitor performance reports
Performance appraisal
A performance appraisal, employee appraisal, performance review, or development discussion is a method by which the job performance of an employee is evaluated typically by the corresponding manager or supervisor. A performance appraisal is a part of guiding and managing career development...
of the train operating staff. This enhances the performance planning by the officers. The Ministry of Railways is also doing a great job by motivating such projects and giving sufficient funds for same. A Project which was initially started in Nov 2006 with a team of 5-6 software persons is now managed by a GM rank officer with a dedicated team of software developer
Software developer
A software developer is a person concerned with facets of the software development process. Their work includes researching, designing, developing, and testing software. A software developer may take part in design, computer programming, or software project management...
s and domain experts, who are basically attached to driving jobs since the last 15–20 years. The system caters for All gauges BG, MG, NG now.
Brief technical particulars
The CMS software is Industry standard software using middle ware and products, hardware components and LANLän
Län and lääni refer to the administrative divisions used in Sweden and previously in Finland. The provinces of Finland were abolished on January 1, 2010....
/WAN
WAN
WAN may refer to:* Wide area network * World Association of Newspapers* Wanborough railway station in England, which has the station code WAN...
network components. The business transactions are transacted so as to provide timely information with increased productivity and reduced paper work to a great extent at the lobby locations. The CMS system is being implemented in the Railways Lobbies at 306 lobby (Location where Railways crew are booked) locations with touch screen along with biometric devices for Sign-On/Off of crew from their duties. The CMS software uses FOIS and Railways network with adequate provision for security in the system so that it is not be vulnerable to hacking from outside. It also has on-line application processing (distributed) & data inter-viewing at the Divisional and Zonal offices.
The different applications of CMS require various levels of organization hierarchy to access it via a web browser. This application extends to various stakeholders and provides a single window interface to the Train Crew.
The CMS software is a centralized architecture using n-tier Java EE architecture with Web Services/Struts framework which works in online mode. All the stakeholders access the applications after user authentication and authorization. The solution has high scalability, flexibility, reliability and is complaint to industry Open Standard specifications. The software solution is :-
• Compliant to n-tier Java EE architecture.
• Seamless integration of enterprise systems with the existing business applications.
• Single sign-on
Single sign-on
Single sign-on is a property of access control of multiple related, but independent software systems. With this property a user logs in once and gains access to all systems without being prompted to log in again at each of them...
feature.
• Open-standards platform supports web service.
• Extending existing applications for multiple devices.
• Utilizing full advantage of device features for management and interactions from a central location i.e. CRIS.
• User friendliness.
• End to end linux based System.
• Browser access via kiosks and thin clients access.
• Comprehensive data validations during capturing.
• Industry standards security features.
• Interface with SMS gateway for information dissemination and verification.
• Online pre-formatted and flexible period report generation.
• Highly flexible and high available solution with 24 x 7 uptime.
• Context sensitive help.
The software is in house software assisted by IBM & HCL in the designs and performance optimisation of the software. These steps are primarily for ensuring a robust and scalable architecture that conforms to open standards and promotes inter-operability duly taking care of the security concerns. The design and implementation of the CMS is expected to lead to the evolution of a truly robust architecture based on the principle of inter-operability and open standards.
SMS feature
The Crew Management System software has a unique feature of booking the crew through SMS. It is sent to the crew through the central database to serve it a call.If the crew acknowledges the call by sending back an acknowledgment through SMS, the crew is booked. This is done for those crews who reside farther than 7–8 km from the crew booking location, else a call boy is sent for the same.Thus the software facilitates faster crew booking.System generated alerts are also sent to the required personnel in the following manner:-
a) Morning position of crew strength at various crew booking locations.
b) Alerts for crew strength at particular crew booking point going below a critical limit.
c) Automated alerts for their nominated Inspector, for crew becoming due for monitoring.
d) The crew can have his personnel information like turn of crew booking, Status, PME, Mileage and other Training due dates on his Mobile.
e) Congratulations on birthdays to crew members of whom date of birth are with the database.
Biometrics sign on/off feature
With the help of the Crew Management System software, sign on/sign off of crew members has become extremely easy. At the lobby, they are provided with KioskKiosk
Kiosk is a small, separated garden pavilion open on some or all sides. Kiosks were common in Persia, India, Pakistan, and in the Ottoman Empire from the 13th century onward...
s, where they use their thumb impression to sign on/sign off.This has removed the need of their signing in registers or remembering passwords. It is very user friendly and easily adaptable by the crew. Also, it has increased security and authentication as it eliminates the possibility of Proxy reporting.It is legally binding. Now BA (Breathalyzer
Breathalyzer
A breathalyzer or breathalyser is a device for estimating blood alcohol content from a breath sample...
) capabilities are being added to Kiosks.It is very important from the point of view of safety running of the train. Herein, the crew blows from his mouth into the device, and if there is any alcohol content found,a thorough check is done.
Central server architecture
Central server architecture consists of a set of 13 server which work in unison. Users access the CMS applications via browser interface. As per the CMS application requirements, the application is deployed in centralized environments with online LANLän
Län and lääni refer to the administrative divisions used in Sweden and previously in Finland. The provinces of Finland were abolished on January 1, 2010....
/WAN
WAN
WAN may refer to:* Wide area network * World Association of Newspapers* Wanborough railway station in England, which has the station code WAN...
(FOIS) connectivity. The CMS system supports the stakeholders and has a centralized architecture based on the deployment pattern. The CMS system supports the browser-based clients originated from respective places.
The details of servers are
1. Edge Server in Active / Passive cluster
Cluster (computing)
A computer cluster is a group of linked computers, working together closely thus in many respects forming a single computer. The components of a cluster are commonly, but not always, connected to each other through fast local area networks...
mode.
2. Web sphere ND in cluster Mode at OS as well as Application mode.
3. Database servers in Main Standby Cluster mode.
4. Tape Back up in LTO
LTO
LTO is a three letter abbreviation that can refer to the following:* Linear Tape-Open, a computer storage magnetic tape format* Loreto International Airport* Link-time optimization, a technique used by compilers to optimize software* Lunar transfer orbit...
5. SMS server to upload the smses to SMS gateway and response to the incoming smses to the clients.
6. LDAP directory server for user Authentication and security also in cluster
Cluster (computing)
A computer cluster is a group of linked computers, working together closely thus in many respects forming a single computer. The components of a cluster are commonly, but not always, connected to each other through fast local area networks...
.
Benefits of computerization of Crew Management System
• All crewing information is readily available through a common data platform.• All offices are synchronized at all times.
• Graphical User Interface for planning as well as for running daily operations with full checking mechanism.
• Time saving: crewing and payroll data need only be entered once.
• A combined system for crewing and payroll saves time and money
The software solution automates the day-to-day business functions of the crew thereby providing information of their status, rostering their duty allocations, providing information on the availability of crew at their home station and assigning crew to the trains. All this leads to better crew management. CMS has been developed to bring in transparency and greater accuracy of information so that decision makers can take effective business decisions to control crew and optimize on crew utilization. It provides for global tracking of all the crew on the CMS system in real time whether the crew is on train, resting at HQ, resting at outstation, on leave or training.
The system gives the planner optimum flexibility to construct highly efficient crew duty blocks resulting in improved crew utilization based on all national and company legal requirements. This can create corresponding reductions in manpower and costs. The solution architect for the CMS Solution is Environmental friendly and has been designed in such a way that the CMS uses the TFT
Thin-film transistor
A thin-film transistor is a special kind of field-effect transistor made by depositing thin films of a semiconductor active layer as well as the dielectric layer and metallic contacts over a supporting substrate. A common substrate is glass, since the primary application of TFTs is in liquid...
and thin client technology which saves lot of power for each crew booking locations over the conventional PC's and CRT monitors based system.
CMS is fully integrated, it maintain complete overall day-to-day administrative and operational control of the total crew resources throughout Rail route network. Quickly identifies additional crew resources to meet unforeseen situations. Availability, priority of presentation and any restrictions are listed in accordance with User-defined rules. Automatically identifies illegal or unqualified crews in accordance with pre-defined User rail regulations. Automatically generates crew schedule.
CMS database holds all the necessary information about each crew member including: basic data such as name, address, gender, nationality, date of birth and phone numbers
personal skills such as language speaking and professional skills such as the types of Crew and trainers' qualifications complete record of promotions - changes of rank, Keep a record of all training taken and the dates when they need to be renewed.
To break the monotony of crew while waiting for their turn at the crew booking lobby a quiz has been provided. QUICK implies Quiz for Improving Crew Knowledge. This is a crew knowledge evaluation and improvement Game.