Newly Developed ‘SMS Gateway’ Launched for Sending Alerts to Railway Passengers Regarding their PNR Status

Indian Railways added another milestone by launching yet another innovative scheme called the ‘SMS Gateway’, which will enable passengers to get SMS alerts on the status of reserved tickets. The ‘SMS Gateway’ which was developed by Centre for Railway information Systems (CRIS), an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Railways, was launched by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury here today on the occasion of a seminar on the theme “Role of IT in Rail Services – Present and Future”. The seminar was organised by the Centre for Transportation Research and Management (CTRAM), an autonomous body of the Ministry of Railways. Present on occasion the were Shri Arunendra Kumar, Chairman, Railway Board, Shri D. P. Pande, Member Traffic, Shri Kul Bhushan, Member Electrical and Shri Alok Johri, Member Mechanical, of Railway Board.

The ‘SMS Gateway’ project will be used to send SMS alerts to passengers in case of status change in the PRS tickets, as compared to the initial booking status (For example W/L to RAC, RAC to CNF, W/L to CNF). SMS alerts prior to chart preparation will be sent once a day, in case of status change only, beginning from 5 days before the journey date. The SMS alerts after chart preparation (which is normally done 3-4 hours before train departure), will convey the actual Berth No., Coach No. and RAC No. for those passengers whose final Charting status has changed as compared to the initial booked status. In case of any ticket upgradation or seat re-allotment also SMS alerts will be sent.

It is estimated that a large of SMS alerts will be sent on daily basis (approx. 4 lakh), hence the system will be made ONLINE in phases. Initially, the system would be configured for sending post chart alerts in a few selective Rajdhani trains, followed by other Mail Express trains. Subsequently the pre chart alerts will be enabled.

This facility will greatly reduce the last minute enquiry rush on the PRS websites and Call Centre as well as reduce the4 crowding near the pasted Chart locations on the Railway Platforms. This service will be provided free of cost to the users. This will enhance the image of Indian Railways.

Taking the things forward, CRIS took up the project for setting up of SMS Gateway of sending alerts to passengers, sanctioned by the Railways Board. Till now passengers can find about their PNR status through website enquiries or Call Centre (139) or IVRS or SMS enquiry. Railways decided to proactively send the SMS alerts to passengers at no extra charges to them.

During the development of the application for sending SMS alerts, considerable challenges were faced, to ensure that there is no adverse impact in the normal functioning of the backend main PRS system (CONCERT), which is one of the largest ticketing applications in the world. M/s Mahindra Comiva and Velti System, India were the technical partners of CRIS for making this project a success.

अकेलापन

अकेलापन 

आज कल याद कुछ और रहता नहीं, एक बस आपकी याद आने के बाद। 

याद आने से पहले चले आइये, और फिर जाइये जान जाने के बाद। 

बहुत पहले किसी हिंदी फिल्म में सुना था ये गाना, जो की आज कल खुद मेरी जुबान पे चढ़ा हुआ है. शायद यही हाल होता है अगर कोई प्रिय आपसे ज्यादा दिन तक दूर रहे।  दिन अचानक  ही कितने बड़े लगने लगते है, और रात अकेली और डरावनी। समय तो जैसे पहाड़ की माफ़िक फ़ैल के आगे खड़ा हो जाता है, जिसके आर पार कुछ और दिखाई ही नहीं देता।  

इस दिल की स्थिति कोई और समझ ही नहीं सकता,  जब तक ऐसा कुछ उसके खुद के साथ घटित न हुआ हो। जीवन भर व्यक्ति प्यार की तलाश में ही भटकता रहता है। और जब ये ही प्यार झोली भर के आप के पास हो पर आपके समीप/निकट ना हो तो आप भटक भी नहीं सकते और अपने प्यार को पा भी नहीं सकते, बहुत ही विकट परिस्थिति हो जाती है कभी कभी। 

फ़ोन भी क्या कमाल का आविष्कार है, पल भर ही सही पर मीलों की दूरिया छड़ भर के लिए लुप्त हो जाती है। और आजकल तो कई ऐसे माध्यम है दूरिया मिटाने के, फेसबुक/व्हाट्स-एप/वी-चैट/३ जी चैट जो तुरंत आपको आपके प्यार से कनेक्ट कर देते है। 

पर क्या ये छड़ भर के माध्यम से सच में दूरिया घट जाती है? क्या याद आने का सिलसिला थम जाता है? क्या मन को वास्तव में संतोष की प्राप्ति हो जाती है? दिल जोर जोर धड़कना बंद कर देता है?

नहीं …………… कभी नहीं। 

The Illusion

Once there was a king who had presented his daughter, the princess, with a beautiful diamond necklace. The necklace was stolen and his people in the kingdom searched everywhere but could not find it. Some said a bird might have stolen it. The king then asked them all to search for it and put a reward for $50,000 for anyone who found it.

One day a clerk was walking home along a river next to an industrial area. This river was completely polluted, filthy and smelly. As he was walking, the clerk saw a shimmering in the river and when he looked, he saw the diamond necklace. He decided to try and catch it so that he could get the $50,000 reward. He put his hand in the filthy, dirty river and grabbed at the necklace, but somehow missed it and didn't catch it. He took his hand out and looked again and the necklace was still there. He tried again, this time he walked in the river and dirtied his pants in the filthy river and put his whole arm in to catch the necklace. But strangely, he still missed the necklace! He came out and started walking away, feeling depressed.

Then again he saw the necklace, right there. This time he was determined to get it, no matter what. He decided to plunge into the river, although it was a disgusting thing to do as the river was polluted, and his whole body would become filthy.

He plunged in, and searched everywhere for the necklace and yet he failed. This time he was really bewildered and came out feeling very depressed that he could not get the necklace that would get him $50,000.

Just then a saint who was walking by, saw him, and asked him what the matter was. The clerk didn't want to share the secret with the saint, thinking the saint might take the necklace for himself, so he refused to tell the saint anything. But the saint could see this man was troubled and being compassionate, again asked the clerk to tell him the problem and promised that he would not tell anyone about it. The clerk mustered some courage and decided to put some faith in the saint. He told the saint about the necklace and how he tried and tried to catch it, but kept failing. The saint then told him that perhaps he should try looking upward, toward the branches of the tree, instead of in the filthy river. The clerk looked up and true enough, the necklace was dangling on the branch of a tree. He had been trying to capture a mere reflection of the real necklace all this time.

Moral: Material happiness is a mere reflection of d true happiness in d spiritual world.