New Online Reservation Website For Indian Railways

[rajanmehta 4,056]

Free Wi-Fi Internet Services in Trains To Be Launched Today

Source NEW DELHI, APRIL 2:

Train journeys may not be all that boring anymore. The Indian Railways is launching free Wi-Fi based Internet services today starting with the New Delhi- Howrah Rajdhani. Fifty other trains are expected to be connected this year.

Train passengers will be able to browse the web, access email, chat, video services like YouTube and even play online games while travelling. Initially, 4 Mbps download bandwidth and 512 Kbps upload bandwidth is earmarked for internet facility in moving train. However, individual users may get much lower speeds because this bandwidth will be shared by all the passengers on the train.

Nirav Dave, Managing Director, Techno Sat Comm (India) Ltd, the company which is providing the technology, said that in case the demand for bandwidth becomes high the network has the intelligence to prioritise traffic.

“Critical communication applications like email or online transactions will be given top priority. Video downloads and gaming would be last, if there is a crunch on the bandwidth availability,” Dave told Business Line. “We had done trials with 120 passengers simultaneously accessing different types of Internet services on a 2 Mbps bandwidth and we found that there were no issues as far as download speeds are concerned,” he added. Access to porn sites will also be blocked.

Technology

Internet access to passengers has been provided using two-way satellite hybrid with 2G/3G and Wi-Fi. The system consists of on-board satellite tracking antenna, multiband antenna and Wi-Fi broadcasting equipment for on-board last mile connectivity. The primary broadband link to back haul the internet traffic is established via satellite and in the event of non-availability of satellite the multi-access router automatically switches from satellite to 2G/3G links to achieve 99 per cent connectivity. The satellite antenna is placed in one of the two power cars of the rake. This is linked through Wi-Fi radios provided outside of each coach. This is further distributed inside the coaches through indoor access point.

Security

To comply with the DoT’s extant guidelines for user authentication for public Wi-Fi networks, a detail log in process has been put in place. For accessing the service, passengers will have to provide mobile number, PNR number, Government ID (election card, Aadhar etc) for getting unique password by SMS on the mobile. The system will be scaled up to offer interactive multimedia entertainment with Internet Television in the future.

In the Budget Speech for the Financial Year 2011-12, the Finance Minister had announced the initiative. “To introduce internet access in moving train was a technological challenge considering that the train passes through all type of terrain and continuous Internet access in all weather is to be provided. After due deliberations on various options for providing internet access, Indian Railways decided for satellite communication link to the train,” Dave said. This facility will be extended free of cost to the travelling passengers. The facility is being introduced for the first time on Indian Railways through the latest technology at a total cost of Rs 6.30 crore.

The Railways intends to expand this service to other Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto express trains progressively based on customer feedback and acceptance.

[amit.shippie 135]

^^^superb news...but I believe a minimal charge like Rs. 10/8 Hrs. would have been a better choice...free things in india never works properly...look at the Govt. Hospitals..Also Railway could earn a large amount of money through this which can be utilized to enhance the Railway facilities...

[cooladitya007 41]

yes i agree with amit railways should charge maybe as low as Rs.5/Hrs

[KanagaDeepan 1,084]

Yes, if it was FREE, it will be as good as useless... That doesn't means the service will be wonderful if Govt asks money for WiFi service, but atleast we will have a reason to complain due to provided services...

[mekturk 21]

Free model should work fine as long as the service is only in Rajdhani, Shatabdi & Duronto - most airports provide free wi-fi and most work fine.

[KanagaDeepan 1,084]

^^^^^^

But the WiFi service is provided by mostly Pvt operators (Tata/AirHell in HYD, BLR, BOM, DEL, etc) and its stationary ---NOT MOVING like in running train----

[mekturk 21]

^^^^^^

But the WiFi service is provided by mostly Pvt operators (Tata/AirHell in HYD, BLR, BOM, DEL, etc) and its stationary ---NOT MOVING like in running train----

Train Movement should be taken care of by the implementer of the technology, as given in the article, they seem to have multiple fallbacks planned. Remains to be seen when it gets wide implementation.

[nayasaroj 14]

It is a pilot project.they are in testing mode. i think afterwards the railway will charge for that

[commonman 228]

4 mbps / 512 kbps shared by about 500 persons. thanks but I would stick to BSNL 3g/2g.

[inception 75]

And I guess less than half of total passengers will use this service

Sent from my IRIS_501 using Tapatalk 2

[kalpeshaparmar 66]

But with the latest technologies that the government are implementing i think it would be a hit with consumers..

And it must be 4Mbps per bogie may be...

Let the company decide till then we can keep on suggesting them what they can do & what they shouldn't....

And if all peoples use it then what difference does it make aren't we all part of that??

[commonman 228]

@inception

a significant part of the mobile users now use smart phones with wifi capabilities. and for travellers of Rajdhani and Shatabdi, the percentage of smart phone would be around 80-90%. since its free, the users would not be less than half but more than 75%.

[rajanmehta 4,056]

IRCTC Website Upgraded To Book More Than 4 Lakh E-tickets Daily

PTI | 22 May, 2013, 08.27PM IST

NEW DELHI: Catering to the growing demand for train tickets during the summer rush, IRCTC has upgraded its website for booking more than four lakh e-tickets daily.

Currently, the ticketing site is able to handle about 1.2 lakh concurrent connections on web servers and can book about 2000 tickets per minute.

"We have upgraded the system with high capacity servers to book more tickets. Earlier our capacity was to book about 1200 tickets per minute but now it has been enhanced to 2000 tickets per minute and it will be further increased to 7200," said a senior IRCTC official.

He said with the continuous upgrading, an average booking per day has been increased from 3.67 lakh in 2012 to 4.15 lakh now.

[amitroutray 384]

But today morning 10 am I am not able to book one tatkal ticket…

Triggered from my Transformer 300 using Tapatalk HD

[KanagaDeepan 1,084]

Irctc website will always be a joke...

There is An option for resending the sms upto five times for a pnr. But those morons are always sending the booking time status and not the current or confirmed status via sms.

But since this is a common sense, we can't expect this feature from irctc...

Edited May 23, 2013 by KanagaDeepan

[csmart 472]

But today morning 10 am I am not able to book one tatkal ticket…

always try to book Tatkal tickets after 10:30 or 10:45.. probability of getting through bookings are more higher than you try at 10... rarely it is possible to get tickets around 10.

[phonegeek 588]

Ticket bhi available hone chahiye tab tak na!

Tickets on my train gets over in 2-3 min.

Sent from LG Optimus G using Tapatalk 2

[phonegeek 588]

A railway racket worth many 2G scams! Touts block tatkal and VIP quota tickets, sell them at triple price

Buying a railway ticket has become Mission Impossible for the aam aadmi, turning the once useful Tatkal reservation systeminto a tout-driven arrangement.

And these facilitators are pretty much in your face. Just visit the New Delhi Railway Station and you'll find them lurking all over, helping hands that come at a 200 per cent markup.

A Mail Today Investigation unearthed this racket on Tuesday when our team visited the railway station on an apparently easy quest for a ticket. The team walked around the station premises, speaking to officials as well as touts. What we found was a well-oiled racket that deals in Tatkal and VIP quota tickets that could be worth many 2G scams in size every year if extrapolated nationwide.

One tout approached us. "Where do you have to go?" Looking suitably hassled, we named our destination. Patna, we said. The tout wasn't wasting any time. "I can get you a confirmed III AC ticket for Rajdhani Express," he said with an easy confidence. We asked him whether the ticket would be in our names. "100 per cent, boss," he said, " You will get it in your name. You will have to pay Rs.4,800," he added.

"Is it Tatkal or are you getting us VIP quota seats?" we asked. "Same thing," the tout said nonchalantly.

We were then taken to a local travel agent, the board outside whose office said, 'Tourist Centre Approved by Government.' There were at least seven eight customers inside the small office, and all wanted tickets. Three touts were going full steam on the other side of the counter.

We chose this moment to complain about the huge "margin" being charged, hoping to derive some traction with the other ticket-seekers.

Without looking up, one of the touts replied, "Brother, we don't keep all the money. We have to pay at least two persons. Just tell me if you want the ticket or not." All this was happening at about 1 pm.

Tatkal bookings had closed within half an hour of the computerised reservation counter's 10 am opening.

The Mail Today team went to other ticket shops in the vicinity. It was the same story: tickets available, in our names, and for roughly three times the official rate.

"We also pay the police on a routine basis to run our business," said one of touts, describing how the take is split between the booking clerks at the reservation counter and railway ministry officials.

Tout by tout, we uncovered the unique modus operandi of the Toutkal Raj. We were told how some officials have managed to manipulate the computerized reservation system.

Crores of rupees are involved as most rail travelers don't plan their journey two months in advance when regular booking of tickets starts. Tatkal is the only option left.

And that's where all the action, and money, is. A senior official said on condition of anonymity that a few travel agents have established a network with railway officials.

"They book the tickets through the railway reservation system when the booking actually starts. They book the tickets leaving the space for writing names blank. When a buyer approaches them, they just inform the official sitting inside who fill in the blanks with the names of the passenger," the official said.

This is in addition to the time-honoured practice of simple bribery and impersonation of passengers.

One Puneet Sinha, who also had to go to Patna, couldn't help overhearing the conversation.

Later when we told him who we really were, he said: "I had tried this morning. The website did not open till 10.15 am, and when I logged in all the tickets were already booked. If a common person cannot buy a ticket through the Internet, then why even offer the facility? It appears that it has only been made for agents." That's exactly what we thought.

A SYSTEM HIJACKED

Some officials and touts have manipulated the computerised reservation system. They buy tickets through the reservation system when the booking actually opens, leaving the name field blank. When a buyer approaches a tout, he conveys the information to his inside man, and a regular ticket is produced

Touts also get tickets directly from the counter on paying money to the official sitting at the window.

Touts have a strong nexus with coach attendants of Rajdhani trains. They send passengers without ticket through coach attendants.

In such cases, money goes to touts, coach attendants and TTs.

THE BLACK BUSINESS

Touts or agents sell both AC and non-AC railway tickets in the black market. They earn Rs.2,000-Rs.3,000 per AC ticket.

They get confirmed tickets with the help of officials sitting at the counters. Over half the earnings is pocketed by officials and the cops.

Since people don't plan their journey two months in advance when the actual booking starts, the only option left is to get it through touts as the Tatkal system has failed to serve the purpose of all travellers.

Read more at:http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/railway-tickets-touts-tatkal-vip-quota-tickets-triple-price/1/271130.html

[pasumark 51]

^^^

It is pathetic

[commonman 228]

there is more.

have you heard of RDS?

Revolving Deposit Scheme.

Its a system where advance money is deposited into your IRCTC account and at the time of actual booking, amount is adjusted from this. So no payment gateway hassles, no payment failures. IRCTC Agents have this facility. but no normal users. This is despite the fact that almost a year back back the facility was promised to normal users. Why still not provided... for giving undue benefit to the Agents of course.

[phonegeek 588]

Its a complete nexus among railway authorities, ticket examiner, railway booking and that's why things are not improving.

Sent from LG Optimus G using Tapatalk 2

Edited May 24, 2013 by phonegeek

[dr.faramroze 703]

The news indicates better IRCTC experience overall after a period of 7-8 years in a row. When I loose booking amount during incomplete transaction, I switch over to makemytrip.com, where apart from Tatkal tickets everything is booked. Users using NGpay on phones will also benefit due to increase in server efficiency.

Sent from my GT-P3100 using Tapatalk 2

[phonegeek 588]

Even I book my tickets from cleartrip.com. Excellent website and Android app.

sadly, tickets cant be booked between 10 to 2.

[Shabz 8]

Kudos to IRCTC website !
Reeling under attempts by Chinese hackers to hack DRDO computers and access highly sensitive information, DRDO has decided to move all its confidential data to the IRCTC server. The move has been lauded by cyber-security experts as a fool-proof method to secure computers from hackers. “I just can’t see Chinese attackers cracking this one. Just the excruciating torture of waiting for the IRCTC home-page will make them tear out their hair in frustration,” opined leading cyber-espionage expert, Rakesh Duggal.

The IRCTC server will have 3 rings of security. First, hackers will have to be able to access the homepage, an act that is virtually impossible when they have to jostle with millions of Indians attempting to book tickets. If they get past that, they will have to try and meaningfully engage with the IRCTC server. And finally, if the server is about to throw up relevant information, the odds are that it will crash. All in all, the chances of hacking the IRCTC server are less than 1 in a trillion which makes it the most hack-proof IT system in the world.

The IRCTC’s impregnability has also drawn effusive praise from world leaders including US President Obama, who has put in a request to shift technological blueprints of new weapons systems to the Indian railway booking portal.

An initially skeptical Obama changed his mind after personally trying in vain to book an online ticket from New Delhi to Kanpur, and has not stopped raving ever since about its technological sophistication. “Thanks to IRCTC we can now rest easy. All credit to Bansal and his team for developing this fantastic system,” said Obama in his congratulatory message to the Indian Railway Minister.

Meanwhile, Chinese President, Xi Jinping, has asked Chinese hackers to roll off from trying to hack IRCTC and get back to Chinese sweat-shops. “Initially, we thought with sheer tenacity and persistence, our boys would be able to crack IRCTC. But after many started complaining of nervous break-downs and mental hallucinations, we've decided to back off. We may have a better rail network than the Indians, but clearly they are far ahead of us in ring proofing their systems,” Xi glumly told The UnReal Times.

[vishalsheth 19]

I had created login & password at irctc. Login went fine. One fine day I couldn't login. I called irctc, they tell me to make another login. This doesn't make sense. They say they can't reset it. I've to create a new one. Any solution? I already created new but again I couldn't login after a few days.

Sent from my GT-P7500 using Tapatalk HD