The Hand-held computer system, which is currently running on a pilot basis on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai route on the Shatabdi Express, is expected to be replicated on the Rajdhani Express after the completion of the second phase, said Western Railway authorities.

According to sources, the objective of this pilot project, which started in 2008, is to computerise on-board passenger interface operations, till now performed manually by the Travelling Ticket Examiners (TTEs).

Under this, the TTEs will be provided with

General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) provided by BSNL. The application software for the first phase has been developed and internally tested.

At present, on-train testing has been conducted in the Shatabdi Express on a GPRS connection leased from BSNL for testing the network availability on moving trains.

“During July 2008, the hand held computer system, which is linked to the Central Reservation Computer system through GPRS, was installed on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai route Shatabdi Express as a pilot project,” said Western Railway CPRO S S Gupta.

He said the system is currently running on a pilot-basis on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai, New Delhi-Amritsar and the New Delhi-Dehradun Shatabdi Express, and the Mumbai-Amritsar Golden Temple Mail.

Navin Kumar Shukla, Executive Director, Passenger Marketing, Indian Railways, Delhi, said: “We are in the first phase of this pilot project. We have demanded appreciation from all the zones in the Shatabdi Express train route. We will take further steps after the phase-II of the project.”

He added: “Some problems have been detected in certain cases due to disturbances in communication at the GPRS level, otherwise, the system is working properly. It is only after the completion of the second phase that further steps will be taken.”

Besides, yet another special air-conditioned Ahmedabad-Mumbai Express will ply overnight once a week, Western Railway authorities said.