Western Railway :- Dil Bole Baar Baar WR. WR - Abdul Rehman

***RATES BRANCH SYSTEM -AN OVERVIEW***
**INTRODUCTION**
Rates Branch System (RBS) is the software under development by Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS), Chennai for computerization of distance calculation and generation of distance tables for all the Railways.
The objectives of the software are -
To...
more...

calculate distance between any two stations in Indian Railways by-
-by the shortest route, or
-by the route desired by the user.
To calculate the distance as above, for Coaching and Goods traffic, as required by the user.
To provide user friendly interface for calculation of distance and provide facility to update data regarding stations and distances.
To generate Local Distance Tables and Junction Distance Tables (LDT & JDT) of various Railways.
Existing System
Each Railway publishes distance tables LDT and JDT with all notified and vetted sections and distances.
Any user, to calculate the distance between two stations, will have to arrive at the shortest route between the stations, duly taking into account rationalization and other local conditions such as temporary closure of sections etc.
After arriving at the route, the user will refer to the JDT of every Railway involved in the route and calculate the distance as follows:
-from starting point to the interchange point with the first Railway enroute;
-from that interchange point to the interchange point of the first Railway with the next Railway, and so on till he reaches the destination Railway;
-from the last interchange point to the destination station.
The sum of the above distances will give the distance for charging.
Difficulties in the existing system
The user will have to be provided with LDT and JDT of all the Railways.
The corrections and changes in any Railway have to be updated to all the stations in time.
This involves an expensive official machinery to carry out the above tasks and logistics.
Any delay or mistake in the above, will lead to wrong distance and loss of revenue.
The proposed system
The application has been developed with J2EE as front end with Sybase in the back end.
The system is web enabled and can be hosted on internet.
It has 3 modules.
Data Entry and Data Correction Module.
This module contains the basic data entry forms for input of data and also for correction of data.
Routing Module.
This module gives the shortest coaching Distance / Goods Distance between the given pair of stations. It can also give the popular route (which is not the shortest route) if via points are given.
Data Viewing Module.
This contains the LDT/JDT of all railways for viewing the data.
The following data are fed in the system
Zones in Indian Railways
Divisions in each Railway
Interchange points of every Railway
Stations in each Division with all details such as Alpha code, Numeric code, Gauge, type of station (Station, Junction, Interchange point, cabin, Halt etc)
Routes in each Division (A route is a set of stations between two junction points with no diversion in between)
List of stations in each route with inter-distance between stations. (Engineering, Coaching and Goods separately, up to three decimal points).
List of Independent sidings with serving stations and notified distance from serving station.
List of Non-Independent sidings with serving stations.
Inflated distances, if any.
The system can be made available at all Zonal Commercial Rates offices for real time maintenance of data.
The system will calculate the distance as follows:
User has to input the following:
From station
To station
Via stations (In Geographical order)
Whether Coaching or Goods
With or without Transhipment
The system will give the out put as follows:
Coaching / Goods distance by the routes asked for.
If no via points specified, by the shortest route.
The interchange points enroute will be highlighted and shown.
The percentage of distance over each Railway will be shown for apportionment.
The user can also view the route highlighted in IR map.
If there is any rationalization involved in the route, then the system will-
Display the route with warning that it is affected by rationalization (the details of the rule will also be displayed), and
Display the next alternate route prescribed.
The user can select the distance and route that he requires.
Facility for PRS users
In PRS system, distance calculation is train based. When a new train is introduced, the stations where the train stops and the cumulative distance from the train starting station are fed in the system.
A separated option is given in RBS, where the user has to feed the train number, from, to and all the stopping stations.
The system will calculate the distance as per the route given by the user and give as output.
Facility for UTS users
In UTS, distance between source station and various destinations via various routes are fed to the system.
A separate option is given in RBS, where the UTS user can give the source station and multiple destinations one below the other by different routes.
RBS will calculate the distance by the given route for each pair of point and will give the output.
Advanced via path option
It may often be the case that the user does not know the via stations in correct order, or does not know the station code.
Such difficulties can be overcome by the Advanced Via path option, where the system will provide help for via by displaying the adjacent junctions. The user can select the required via by clicking on it and build the route.

Other features/advantages
The system will print as output LDT/JDT of all the Railways.
The system will be capable of taking input from other software such as FOIS, UTS, PRS etc and give the distance.
The system can be hosted on internet for access through net.
The system can display the IR map and will also highlight the route for which the user has sought the distance.
Limitations
The data of all stations and distances of each Railway and their accuracy are critical to the functioning of the system.
Resource persons from Commercial and Operating departments of each Railway have been called to correct/update the data.
Railways have been given with copies of the data input / corrected by them. They have to check the data thoroughly and ensure accuracy of the data.
Any lacunae / mistake in data will lead to incorrect distances.