With train services and fares set to go back to pre-Covid levels, numbers and figures are being recalibrated by CRIS core team from 11 pm to 5.30 am daily
The six-hour train renumbering activity will continue till November 20-21
With train services and fare structures all set to bounce back to pre-Covid times, in one of the biggest computer operations in ticketing history, train numbers and fares are being recalibrated for six hours starting daily at 11 pm. A detailed analysis by the core team of the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) has revealed that six trains can be renumbered in five minutes and 432 in a day. The activity, which started on the intervening night of November 14-15 from 11 pm to 5.30 am, will continue till November 20-21. It may continue for the next six nights.
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For commuters, this means that ticketing facilities will not be available on the IRCTC website for the six-hour periods. During that time railway personnel will ensure that advanced charting of the trains departing during the affected timings is done. Except for the PRS services, all other enquiry services will continue uninterrupted. The zonal railways will manually handle updates for train delays and cancellations and send bulk text messages to the affected passengers.
“It will be a huge process and teams will be working simultaneously in the back-end for hours together. For a downtime of six hours per day, 432 trains can be renumbered daily. During the six-hour period, CRIS teams will be involved in patching/updating of trains and then the zonal railways’ team will check and verify the data. Charts for the trains likely to get affected during the activity period will be prepared in advance,” an official said.
“The CRIS will share day-wise updated train numbers with the railway board so that it can direct the zonal railways to make simultaneous changes in the Integrated Coaching Management System (ICMS) during the activity period. The ICMS is the key application framework, which integrates the control office, train enquiry, freight operations info, reservation system, coaching maintenance, train scheduling system, crew management system, TTE Lobbies, etc,” he said. The official said, “The active data of trains will be taken by the railways for renaming as the work progresses. It will be done as per the mapping list of new train numbers against the old train numbers to be provided by the zonal railways.”