INTRODUCTION

A plan for a railway system in India was first put forward in 1832, but no further steps were taken for more than a decade. In 1844, the Go ernor!General of India "ord #ardin$e allowed pri ate entrepreneurs to set up a rail system in India. %ailways were first introduced to India in 18&3. 'y 1(4), the year of India*s independence, there were forty!two rail systems. In 1(&1 the systems were nationali+ed as one unit, becomin$ one of the lar$est networks in the world. I% operates both lon$ distance and suburban rail systems on a multi!$au$e network of broad, meter and narrow $au$es. It also owns locomoti e and coach production facilities. ,he first train in India became operational on 18&1!12!22, and was used for the haulin$ of construction material in %oorkee. A few years later, on 18&3!-4!1., the first passen$er train between 'ori 'under, 'ombay and ,hana co erin$ a distance of 34 km /21 miles0 was inau$urated, formally heraldin$ the birth of railways in India. ,his pro1ect aims at de elopment of an 2nline %ailway %eser ation 3tility which facilitates the %ailway customers to mana$e their reser ations online, and the %ailway administrators to modify the backend databases in a 3ser!4riendly manner. ,he 5ustomers are re6uired to re$ister on the ser er for $ettin$ access to the database and 6uery result retrie al. 3pon re$istration, each user has an account which is essentially the 7 iew le el8 for the customer. ,he account contains comprehensi e information of the user entered durin$ re$istration and permits the customer to $et access to his past reser ations, en6uire about tra el fare and a ailability of seats, make afresh reser ations, update his account details, etc. ,he %ailway Administrator is the second party in the transactions. ,he administrator is re6uired to lo$in usin$ a master password, once authenticated as an administrator, one has the access and ri$hts of modification to all the information stored in the database at the ser er. ,his includes the account information of the customers, attributes and statistics of stations, description of the train stoppa$es and physical description of coaches, all the reser ations that ha e been made, etc. ,he railway administrator has the ri$ht to modify any information stored at the ser er database which is capable of reducin$ the comple9ity of e9istin$ system and for effecti e mana$ement of time.

1.1 NEED OF THE PROJECT

,oday one cannot afford to rely on the fallible human bein$s who really wants to stand a$ainst today8s merciless competition where not to wise sayin$ :to err is human; no lon$er alid, it8s outdated. <o, to keep pace with time, to brin$ about the best result without malfunctionin$ and $reater efficiency so to replace the unendin$ heaps of flies with a much sophisticated hard disk of the computer. 2ne has to use the data mana$ement software. <oftware has been an ascent in atomi+in$ arious or$ani+ations. =ow only this software has to be loaded on the computer and work can be done. ,his pre ents a lot of time and money. ,he work becomes fully automated and any information re$ardin$ the or$ani+ation can be obtained by clickin$ the button. >oreo er, now it8s an a$e of computers and automatin$ such an or$ani+ation $i es the better look. ,his pro1ect introduces %ailway %eser ation <ystem. It e9plains how reser ation is bein$ done in Indian %ailways. <ince the ad ent of train 1ourneys in 18&3 when the first passen$er train was started, Indian %ailways has always been rein entin$ and inno atin$ itself. 4rom the days of steam en$ines to electric e9press trains it has come a lon$ way. ?hile the make and comfort that the Indian %ailways offer has ob iously impro ed with the boost in technolo$y, the truly re olutionary concept of the Indian %ailways has been the introduction of the online railways reser ation system. As Indian %ailways is one of the lar$est rail networks in the world rankin$ & th place in the world in terms of rail networks it is ery difficult to carry the process of ticket bookin$, data maintenance, etc, so we are tryin$ to automate the process of railway reser ations and data maintenance which is capable to reduce the comple9ity of e9istin$ system and for effecti e mana$ement of time. ,he system will be desi$ned to pro ide an electronic ersion of the railway passen$er reser ation system in India. ,he system will ha e a user!friendly $raphical interface and will be more cost effecti e compared to the current non!electronic ersion of the reser ation system. ,he main ob1ecti e of railway pro1ect is to capitali+e e9istin$ information relati e to recent inno ati e e9periences in the domain of rail frei$ht and passen$ers tra ellin$.

,he ob1ecti es of this de elopment effort are@ ,o pro ide passen$ers with a new en ironment in which to make reser ations for railroad tra el. ,o pro ide an a enue for customers to $et their tickets in a more con enient way. ,o re$ain control of the railway ticket sales to a oid scalpin$ and o ersellin$ of tickets. ,o collect statistics in a more efficient manner for future railroad de elopment and construction. In the proposed system, we are also makin$ database for all the trains runnin$ across the country. As re6uired, we can edit the database of the trains and can also add new trains which will be proposed in future bud$ets.

1.2 SURVEY OF THE PROJECT

Aata mana$ement initially had to maintain a lot of led$ers and a lot of paper work has to be done but now software product for this or$ani+ation has made their work faster and easier. =ow only this software has to be loaded on the computer and work can be done. ,his pre ents a lot of time and money. ,he work becomes fully automated and any information re$ardin$ the or$ani+ation can be obtained by clickin$ the button. >oreo er, now it8s an a$e of computers and automatin$ such an or$ani+ation $i es the better look. ,he main ob1ecti e of railway reser ation pro1ect is to maintain the records of train details so that it could be easy for updatin$ the reser ation details. ,he train details consistin$ of train name, train no, destination to be reached, number of passen$ers tra elin$ and number of seats a ailable. ,he reser ation details consist of passen$ers, name, a$e, se9, destination to be reached by them, ticket numbers, and seat number.

In early days the process of bookin$ tickets in railways is mainly carried out in two methods. ,hey are@ Counter Booking Online Booking

Counter Booking ,his is the oldest method for bookin$ tickets. ,he reser ation counters are there at %ailway departments from where people can $et tickets to their respecti e Aestinations. =owadays there are arious ticket counters, apart from railway <tation counters where tickets are a ailable. ,his method is a ery tedious process as customers has to stand for hours in lon$ 6ueues for reser in$ their tickets Online Booking ,his facility is $i en to $eneral public by railway department. ?ith the help of this facility people can book their tickets throu$h internet, sittin$ in their home by a sin$le click of the mouse. 3sin$ their creditBdebit cards people can easily $et their tickets done within minutes. ,his is the most con enient way for reser in$ tickets as there is no need for passen$ers to stand in lon$ 6ueues for reser in$ their tickets.

FUNCTION!"ITIES
,he process of railway reser ation system consists of many functions. ,he
Cassen$ers and %ailway Administrators are the two parties which interact with the database, who ha e different 7 iew le el schemas8 to the database information. ,he functions of Cassen$ers are checkin$ ticket a ailability, reser in$ tickets, cancellin$ tickets, checkin$ train schedules etc. ,he functionalities of Administrators include

updatin$ train databases, $eneratin$ reports, maintainin$ passen$ers list etc. ,he administrator is pro ided with facilities like deletin$ the passen$er list etc. ,he functionalities can be best elaborated as follows@

RE#ISTR!TION

=ew users are pro ided with re$istration form for

re$isterin$ themsel es with the e9istin$ system for utili+in$ the ser ices pro ided by Indian %ailways.

"O#IN 2nly the user with specified lo$in id D password can $et access to the system. ,his pro ides security from unauthori+ed access. 4or new customers to $et accessed to the system they must be re$istered with the system for utili+in$ the ser ices.

CHEC$ !V!I"!BI"ITY ,he customer must be pro ided with an user interface screen throu$h which he can check the a ailability of trains, arri al and departure timin$s, source and destinations of different trains by pro idin$ necessary information like train noBtrain name etc,.

RESERVE SE!T A passen$er should be able to reser e a seat in the train specified by himBher if a ailable. 4or this he has to fill a reser ation form with the details about his 1ourney. ,he system checks for the a ailability of seats in different trains and if the seat is a ailable then he makes entries re$ardin$ train name, train number, date of 1ourney, boardin$ station and destination. ,he passen$er is then asked to pay the fair. After makin$ payment the passen$er is allowed to take printout of the ticket.

C!NCE" RESERV!TION ,here may be a situation when the passen$er wants to cancel his reser ation. ,he system bein$ de eloped should also facilitate cancellation process for this the passen$er has to fill a cancellation form pro idin$ all the details about the ticket reser ed by him like date of 1ourney, train nameBtrain number, source and destination, C=% number etc,. ,he system then checks for the entries from the database and cancels the reser ation finally returnin$ the ticket amount with some deduction.

VIE% TR!IN SCHEDU"E ,he users are pro ided with interfaces to see information about the train schedules like <ource and Aestination, Aeparture time, Arri al time, ?hether the re6uested train is a special train or not etc,.

VIE% RESERV!TION ST!TUS ,he users are pro ided with interfaces to check their reser ation status like confirmation of ticket, whether the ticket is in waitin$ list or not etc.

UPD!TE TR!IN INFOR&!TION

2nly the Administrator has the

pri ile$es to make chan$es in train databases like /train name, train no. etc.0 he can add or delete the trains dependin$ on the train a ailability.

REPORT #ENER!TION ,he Administrator is pro ided with pri ile$es for $eneratin$ reports when needed in the form of reser ation charts, train schedule charts, number of passen$ers tra ellin$, number of tickets cancelled etc.

P!Y&ENT ,he Administrator checks whether the payment made by the 5ustomer is alid or not dependin$ on the transactions made by the customers he issues ticket to the customers.

,he ser ices pro ided to 5ustomers and Administrators are as follows@ Cu'to(er Ser)i*e' 5reate an account by re$isterin$, modify account details, dere$ister from the ser ices >ake afresh multi passen$er reser ations, the customers are pro ided to choose their berthsBreser ation spots rather than bein$ randomly allocated positions Eiew, modify or cancel past reser ations 5ustomers are pro ided with different reser ation status, 1ust as in real life systems 5onsumers are informed, throu$h emails, about updates in the reser ations and trains 5onsumers are informed about the arious seasonal offers and discounts.

!+(ini'tr,tor Ser)i*e'
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Add new train ser ices or update the e9istin$ train ser ices, e.$. modifyin$ their stoppin$ stations, stoppa$e times, tariffs, etc. Add or update the physical description of trains, like number of coaches, type of coaches, number of berths, etc. 3pdate information about addition of railway stations, add new railway stations, drop e9istin$ railway stations, etc. Access and modify customer accounts or customer reser ations

,he other functionalities in ol ed in %ailway reser ation system are@

,o assess and describe the e9istin$ state and structure of the rail industry and to define the base scenario. ,o assess and describe the rail supply and demand en ironment and its e olutionary trends both for endo$enous, enlar$ement, industrial and $lobali+ation related reasons.

,o assess, describe, and compare the emer$in$ situation and to erify its le el of sustainability.

=ew traction patterns for ser ice and producti ity impro ement <tandardi+ation and industriali+ation =ew flows of traffic and their characteri+ation Fuality and ser ice standards applicable <afety and security issues ,o support and monitor maintenance acti ities remotely ,o impro e system a ailability and reliability, therefore reducin$ failures and related delays

,o reduce maintenance down time and related costs ,o simplify and harmoni+e the maintenance procedures at national le el ,o optimi+e lon$!term maintenance plannin$
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,o reduce life cycle cost of e6uipment ,o impro e cooperation and document e9chan$e between in ol ed actors ,o mana$e and monitor ehicle fleets and plant families ,o promote interoperability of maintenance tools

1.- !BOUT THE OR#!NI.!TION