INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND INDIAN RAILWAYS

• INDIAN RAILWAYS HAS BEEN A PIONEER IN THE USE OF

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN INDIA.IT WAS FIRST ADOPTED IN THE
1960s WHEN COMPUTERIZED PASSENGER AND FREIGHT REVENUE
ACCOUNTING, OPERATING STATISTICS,PAY ROLL AND INVENTORY
MANAGEMENT WERE INTRODUCED USING IBM 1401 COMPUTER
PLACED IN ZONAL DATA CENTRES OF INDIAN RAILWAYS.

TODAY,INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IS POISED TO SPREAD RAPIDLY IN

THE INDIAN RAILWAYS.

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 COMPUTERISATION AND INFORMATION SYSTEM (C & IS)
DIRECTORATE OF RAILWAY BOARD

• C& IS DIRECTORATE IS A NODAL DIRECTORATE FOR

IMPLEMENTATION OF ALL PROJECTS ON INDIAN
RAILWAYS WHICH ARE CHARGED TO PLAN HEAD
COMPUTERIZATION.
• IT DEVELOPS NORMS, STANDARDS, MAINTENANCE
OF MANUALS IN THE AREA OF COMPUTERIZATION.
• IT PREPARES INFORMATION TECNOLOGY PLAN FOR
THE INDIAN RAILWAYS.
• IT COORDINATES TRAINING EFFORTS IN
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AREAS.

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 VISION STATEMENT

INDIAN RAILWAYS SHALL INCULCATE A CULTURE OF USING

THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN ITS DAY TO DAY WORKING
SO AS TO PROVIDE COST-EFFECTIVE SOLUTIONS TO MEET
WITH ITS CUSTOMERS AND ITS OWN REQUIREMENTS AND
EXPECTATIONS.

(SOURCE: “VISION 2025 : TECHNOLOGY FOR INFORMATION” BY

C&IS DIRECTORATE)

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 CENTRE FOR RAILWAY
INFORMATION SYSTEMS (CRIS)
• IN 1986,Ministry of Railways established the CENTRE FOR
RAILWAY INFORMATION SYSTEMS (CRIS), Chanakyapuri, New
Delhi - 21 to be an umbrella organization for all computer
activities on Indian Railways (IR).

• CRIS is a registered society having an autonomous status and

headed by Managing Director .CRIS is mainly a project oriented
organisation engaged in development of major computer
systems on the Railways.

• CRIS started functioning from July,1987.

• CRIS is entrusted with the task of design, development and

implementation of the FOIS, along with its associated
communications infrastructure.
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 LAURELS FOR CRIS
• FOIS IS SELECTED AS THE BEST IT PROJECT IN
SOUTH ASIA DURING 2006 BY PC QUEST MAGAZINE.
• April 21, 2008 - Prime Minister Award for Excellence in Pu
• May 1, 2008 - IBM Beacon and Top Star Awards to CRIS fo f
• June 2,2008 - CRIS recognized as laureate for its case stu

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WELCOME TO FOIS

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FOIS IS A TOOL FOR IMPROVING
EFFICIENCY IN IR
Using FOIS, the Railways have been able to
reduce the turn around time for freight
wagons from 8 days to about 5.5 days. And,
there has been a 10% jump in wagon-loading
in the past three years without needing to
add more wagons. Because the information
is directly captured digitally and is fed into a
relational database (Oracle), report can be
generated used by operational and policy
planners with whatever pivots they require.
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 FREIGHT OPERATIONS
INFORMATION SYSTEM (FOIS)
• FOIS comprises the Rake Management System
(RMS) for handling the operating portion and
Terminal Management System (TMS) pertaining to
the commercial transactions.

• The RMS is responsible for tracking and managing

freight wagons, freight-class locomotives and other
operations of the freight system.

• The TMS deals with demand registration, Forwarding

Note registration, loading, RR generation, collection
of railway dues, remittance etc.

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 FOIS IS COMPULSORY
• As per the Railway Board Freight Marketing
Circular No.10 of 2006, all future sidings
shall have FOIS terminal.
• As per the Railway Board Freight Marketing
Circular No.16 of 2007, automatic timing
devices linked to
specified track circuits would have to be
installed by the Siding Owner (in sidings
which are working under TILES scheme) for
ascertaining placement and release timings.
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 TERMINAL MANAGEMENT
SYSTEM
Terminal Management System (TMS)
captures all commercial information relating
to goods traffic from booking to delivery

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TMS MAIN SCREEN

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 JPO FOR TMS
THE RAILWAY BOARD FREIGHT RATE
CIRCULAR NO.2 OF 2005 CONTAINS
THE JOINT PROCEDURE ORDER FOR
TMS AND IT IS CONSIDERED TO BE AN
IMPORTANT DOCUMENT FOR TMS
WORKING.

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DEMAND REGISTRATION IN
TMS

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 DEMAND REGISTRATION
• THE DETAILS TO BE FED INCLUDE TIME OF
REGISTRATION,CONSIGNOR CODE,GROUP RAKE
COMMODITY NAME,TRAFFIC TYPE,CONSIGNEE
CODE,TO STATION ETC.

• PROVISION IS AVAILABLE TO REGISTER DEMANDS FOR

MINI RAKE,TWO POINT RAKE AND MULTI POINT RAKE
ETC.

• THERE IS PROVISION TO CHANGE THE DESTINATION

FOR PRIVATE SIDINGS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE
RULES.

• THE SOUTHERN ZONE PENDING DEMANDS IN TMS ARE

DISPLAYED IN THE SOUTHERN RAILWAY WEBSITE
UNDER THE LINK 14
http://www.southernrailway.org/odr.php
FORWARDING NOTE

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 F/NOTE REGISTRATION IN TMS

• NO OF WAGONS, COMMODITY
CODE,WEIGHT,ROUTE,RATE TYPE,CHARGED VIA ETC. ARE
FED IN TMS.
• WHILE SAVING THE DETAILS OF F/NOTE REGISTRATION,
THE F/NOTE NUMBER IS AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED BY
THE SYSTEM.
• THIS NUMBER IS USED FOR PLACING THE WAGONS
WHICH ARE COVERED BY THE SUBJECT F/NOTE.
• THERE ARE ADEQUATE PROVISIONS TO MODIFY F/NOTE
SUBJECT TO THE RULES IN FORCE.
• THROUGH TMS,A MAXIMUM OF 12 RAILWAY RECEIPTS
CAN BE ISSUED FOR A EIGHT WHEELED BG WAGON IN
ACCORDANCE WITH THE RAILWAY BOARD FREIGHT RATE
CIRCULAR NO.11 OF 2003.
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OUTWARD INDEX IN TMS

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PROVISION TO CHARGE FREIGHT CHARGES THROUGH
DIFFERENT VIAs FOR THE SAME DESTINATION

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TMS ACCEPTS DEMAND REGISTRATION
THROUGH LSD AND WDRF

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ALLOTMENT,RELEASE,RELEASECOMPLETE,REMOVAL & REMOVAL
CONFIRM OF WAGONS IN OUTWARD CYCLE OF TMS

• AFTER ARRIVAL OF WAGONS,WAGONS ARE ALLOTTED IN TMS

USING THE MACHINE GENERATED F/NOTE NUMBER.

• AFTER COMPLETION OF LOADING,THE RELEASE TIME IS

ENTERED IN TMS WAGON WISE INDIVIDIVALLY.

• AFTER RELEASE OF WAGONS, THE ‘RELEASE COMPLETE’

OPTION IS INVOKED.

• THEREAFTER, ‘REMOVAL’ OPTION IS INVOKED.

• THEN, ‘REMOVAL CONFIRM’ OPTION IS EXERCISED.

• ONLY AFTER PERFORMING THE ‘REMOVAL CONFIRM’ OPTION,

THE WAGONS CAN BE MOVED IN RMS AND THE LOADING
FIGURES ARE REFLECTED IN WEB REPORTS.
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 REPEAT WAY BILL
• “Through this task information regarding repeated pattern of traffic in respect of
each consignor, for each destination, for a Group Rake Commodity, Rake
Commodity & Commodity with its seven digit numeric Commodity code,
consignee, Traffic type, wagon registration fee applicable or not, type of
equipment used, Rate type i.e. Class Rate/Station to Station Rate/Military Rate
or Per Kilometre Rate, Risk Rate, Payment mode in respect of wagon
registration fee/Freight/Local Charges, Rake type, Stock type & No. of units,
Rebate if any – then its code and rebate in percentage or in amount etc. shall be
fed once by the Goods Staff in the system and its data will be retrieved in
various tasks of the system viz. Programmed Traffic, Demand Registration, RR
generation and various reports concerning to repeated pattern of traffic.”-Para
4.2 of Railway Board Freight rate circular 02 of 2005.

• Rebates for short lead traffic can be granted in TMS without registration of
demand through repeat way bill.

• To grant all other rebates , demand should be registered through repeat way bill.

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REPEAT WAY BILL IN TMS

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 LOADING TASK IN TMS
• AFTER COMPLETION OF LOADING, THE
FORWARDING NOTE REMARKS,NO OF
PACKAGES,ACTUAL WEIGHT ARE FED IN THE
SYSTEM.

• THERE IS PROVISION TO CORRECT THE

WRONG DETAILS IN THE LOADING REGISTER
BEFORE INVOKING THE ‘CONFIRM LOADING’
TASK.

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FORWARDING NOTE
REMARKS

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LOADING TASK IN TMS

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MODIFICATION OF ENTRIES OF TMS
LOADING REGISTER

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WEIGHMENT IN PRIVATE SIDINGS
AND TMS
• AS PER THE RAILWAY BOARD FREIGHT
RATE CIRCULAR NO.12 OF 2007, THE
ELECTRONIC-IN MOTION WEIGH
BRIDGE WHICH IS INSTALLED IN THE
PREMISES OF THE SIDING OWNER
SHOULD HAVE TO BE LINKED WITH
FOIS AT THE COST OF THE PARTY SO
THAT THE RR IS BASED ON ACTUAL
WEIGHMENT .
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 ISSUE OF RR AFTER WEIGHMENT OF
CONSIGNMENT AT WEIGH BRIDGE

• RAILWAY BOARD FREIGHT RATE CIRCULAR 86 OF

2006 LAYS DETAILED GUIDE LINES ON THE ISSUE OF
RR AFTER WEIGHMENT.
• THE RR CAN BE PREPARED ON SENDER’S WEIGHT
ONLY WHEN THE WEIGHMENT DETAILS CAN NOT BE
OBTAINED WITHIN 48 HOURS FROM THE TIME OF
LOADING.
• THE WEIGHMENT DETAILS ARE COLLECTED
THROUGH FAX FROM THE WEIGHBRIDGE STATIONS
AND THEN THE TMS LOCATIONS PREPARE RR DULY
ENTERING THE WEIGHMENT DETAILS IN THE
‘ACTUAL WEIGHT’ COLUMN OF LOADING REGISTER
IN TMS. 28
EXCERPTS OF RC-86 OF 2006 ON FOIS AND WEIGHMENT
• A reliable means of communication should be set up between the Associated and
alternate associated weighbridges and the corresponding loading point for
communicating results of the weighment to the loading point.

• Means of communication mentioned above could be a FAX to begin with.

• Eventually, it has to be upgraded to inter-system communication between the

weighbridge and the TMS module of FOIS. FOIS will provide TMS terminal at
every weighbridge location. Railway should advise the commissioning of
communication system at the weighbridge station, immediately after its
commissioning.

• However, if FOIS terminal is provided at the weighbridge station but interface

between weighbridge and TMS is not developed, weighbridge staff should enter
the weighment of wagons/rakes manually in the TMS module of FOIS provided at
weighbridge station.

• FOIS will develop an interface between the weighbridge and TMS so that the
weighment information is directly transmitted from weighbridge to the TMS system.

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RR GENERATION

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INVOIKING ‘EXPECTED FREIGHT’MENU OF TMS BEFORE
SAVING DETAILS OF RR GENEATION

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 GENERATION OF RR WITH CORRECT
FREIGHT CHARGES
• DURING RR GENERATION,PAID/TOPAY,VALUE OF GOODS (FOR
COLLECTION OF PCEV CHARGES),PAYMENT MODE,OTHER
CHARGES,AUTHORITY DETAILS (FOR GRANTING THE TRAIN LOAD
WHEN THE NUMBER OF WAGONS SUPPLIED ARE LESS THAN THE
PRESCRIBED STANDARD SIZE RAKE ON ADMINISTRATIVE
GROUNDS),RISK RATE ETC. ARE TO BE FED BY THE TMS USER.
• BEFORE SAVING THE DETAILS IN THE RR GENERATION SCREEN,
‘EXPECTED FREIGHT’ MENU OF TMS IS INVOKED TO ASCERTAIN
WHETHER THE MANUALLY CALCULATED FREIGHT CHARGES
TALLIES WITH THE SYSTEM GENERATED FREIGHT CHARGES.IF THE
SYSTEM CACULATED FREIGHT CHARGES ARE LESS THAN
MANUALLY CALCULATED FREIGHT CHARGES, THEN THE
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO ARE FED AS ‘UNDERCHARGES’ IN
THE ‘OTHER CHARGES’ COLUMN OF RR GENERATION.

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 E-PAYMENT ONLY AT TMS
LOCATIONS
• E-Payment facility is available only at terminals where
Terminal Management System (TMS) has been commissioned.

• Payment under e-payment scheme will be limited to payment

of freight charges at present. Railway may consider payment
of other charges through e-payment at a later stage.

• E-Payment Scheme provides a facility to rail users to make

payment of freight charges directly from their National Bank
account to Railway’s Bank account through electronic means.
Railway aims to promote this mode of payment by their
customers.

• Electronic payment system will be a 24x7 facility under which

transactions will be made round the clock and on all the days
of the year.

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 RC 39 OF 2008 on E-PAYMENT
• The Railway Board Freight Rate Circular No.39 of 2008 gives detailed
guidelines for E-payment.

• Any rail customer having regular business with Railway may apply
to the Chief Commercial Manager (CCM) of the Zonal Railway on
which the booking station is located.

• Acceptance of a proposal for instruction of e-payment facility shall

be subject to an undertaking by the customer through a Tri Partite
Agreement to abide by the conditions laid down in this E-payment
scheme and any other conditions that the Zonal Railway may
decide and add.

• In case a consignment is booked under e-payment scheme,

diversion
or dump depot booking of such consignments shall not be made till
the relevant software is ready. Till that time, such transactions will
have to be accounted for manually.
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E-PAYMENT LOG IN TMS

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 CUSTOMER CAN TAKE THE PRINT OUT THE RR AT HIS
DESIRED LOCATION

• CRIS IS WORKING ON A PROPOSAL IN WHICH THE

PRINT OUTS OF THE RAILWAY RECEIPTS CAN BE
TAKEN BY THE CUSTOMERS AT THEIR DESIRED
LOCATIONS THROUGH INTERNET.
(SOURCE:http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/07/28/stories/2005072802390500.ht
m)

• THIS PROPOSAL IS SIMILAR TO THE PASSENGERS

TAKING THE PRINT OUT OF THEIR RESERVATION
TICKETS (ELECTRONIC RESERVATION SLIP) AT
THEIR HOMES THROUGH INTERNET.
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DEMURRAGE REPORTING IN
TMS

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 REBOOKING AND DIVERSION IN TMS

• FACILITIES ARE AVAILABLE IN TMS TO

REBOOK /DIVERT THE CONSIGNMENTS
STRICTLY ACCORDING TO THE RULES IN
FORCE.
• PARA 11 OF THE RAILWAY BOARD FREIGHT
RATE CIRCULAR NO.2 OF 2005 SPEAKS OF
DIVERSION TASKS IN TMS.
• PARA13 OF THE RAILWAY BOARD FREIGHT
RATE CIRCULAR NO.2 OF 2005 SPEAKS OF
REBOOKING TASK IN TMS.
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COLLECTION OF DIVERSION FEES IN TMS

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GOODS BALANCE SHEET IN TMS

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TMS QUERIES

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OUTWARD QUERIES MENUS IN TMS

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 INWARD CYCLE FROM PLACEMENT TO RELEASE

• WAGONS ARE COMMERCIALLY PLACED IN

TMS FOR UNLOADING.
• THE UNLOADING COMPLETION TIME IS
ENTERED FOR EACH WAGON INDIVIDUALLY.
• THE RELEASE CODE ‘RE’ (RELEASED AS
EMPTY) IS USED FOR RELEASING THE
INWARD WAGONS INDIVIDUALLY ON
COMPLETION OF UNLOADING PROCESS.
• THEN ‘RELEASE COMPLETE’ OPTION IS
INVOKED.

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 INWARD CYCLE FROM REMOVAL TO DELIVERY

• AFTER PERFORMING THE ‘RELEASE COMPLETE’

OPERATION,’REMOVAL’ AND ‘REMOVAL CONFIRM’
MENUS ARE INVOKED.
• ONLY AFTER PERFORMING ‘REMOVAL CONFIRM’
OPERATION, THE WAGONS CAN BE MOVED IN FOIS.
• NOW, ‘UNLOADING REGISTER’ MENU IS CLICKED TO
UNLOAD THE CONSIGNMENTS.
• THEN ‘BOOK DELIVERY’ IS EFFECTED IN TMS.
• THERE ARE PROVISIONS TO COLLECT
DEMURRAGE,WHARFAGE,UNDER CHARGES & LOCAL
CHARGES IN THE GOODS DELIVERY BOOK OF TMS.
• FINALLY THE DELIVERY BOOK IS CLOSED.

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NORMAL DELIVERY BOOK OF TMS

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INWARD MENUS OF TMS

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MESSAGE CAN BE SENT TO ALL LOCATIONS IN IR THROUGH FOIS

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 DAY END OPERATION IN TMS

Day end closing task gives a prompt for checking all

unfinished jobs, like Unloading / Loading Books. This
task is to be invoked by the Goods Staff before the
close of the day. It also provides the various print-
outs of the cash book i.e. Head-wise  Accruals,
Collections, Remittances during the day. System
also provides print-out Handling of wagons both
Inward & Out-ward and the last numbers generated
viz Demand number, Forwarding Note number,
Invoice Index number and “RR stationary number”.
In case of non-operation of TMS on the following
day, these printouts help to carry out the work
manually. 
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DAY END TASK IN TMS

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 MESSAGES AND CIRCULARS THROUGH FOIS

• ANY PROBLEM IN FOIS WORKING CAN BE BROUGHT TO

THE NOTICE OF DIVISIONAL HEADQUARTERS/ZONAL
HEADQUATERS/OCC/CRIS/NDLS THROUGH FOIS
MESSAGE.

• ZONAL OCCs AND OCC/CRIS/NDLS ARE FUNCTIONING

ROUND THE CLOCK TO RENDER HELP TO FOIS
LOCATIONS.

• THERE IS PROVISION TO POST NOTIFICATIONS,

CIRCULARS IN FOIS BY ZONAL HEADQUARTERS AND
OCC/CRIS/NDLS UNDER A SEPARATE MENU.

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WEB REPORTS BY CRIS

51
WEB REPORTS MEANT FOR CCM
IN FOIS

52
 WEB REPORTS FOR ALL
• BASED ON THE VARIOUS INPUTS OF TMS & RMS OF VARIOUS
LOCATIONS OVER IR, SEPARATE WEB REPORTS ARE GENERATED BY
OCC/CRIS/NDLS.

• THESE WEB REPORTS CAN BE OBTAINED FROM THE WEB ADDRESS

http://10.60.200.50014/WebReports/.

• SEPARATE WEB REPORTS ARE GENERATED FOR SrDCMs AND SrDOMs

AT THE DIVISIONAL LEVELS AND SEPARATE WEB REPORTS ARE
PUBLISHED FOR CFTMs AND COMs AT THE ZONAL LEVELS.BESIDES
THESE WEB REPORTS, SPECIAL WEB REPORTS ARE PUBLISHED FOR
RAILWAY BOARD ALSO.

• THESE WEB REPORTS HELP THE ADMINISTRATION TO CLOSELY

MONITOR THE DAY TO DAY ACTIVITIES.

• REQUESTS FOR PUBLISHING OF SPECIAL REPORTS ARE ENTERTAINED

BY THE OCC/CRIS/NDLS AT THE REQUESTS OF THE ZONAL
HEADQUARTERS.

• WEB REPORTS ARE PUBLISHED IN BOTH ENGLISH AND HINDI. 53

LAUNCHING OF FIRST QUARTERLY LEAFLET “FOIS NEWS”, ON 03.04.2007
BY SHRI.ABRAHAM JACOB, THE THEN COM/MAS

54
LAUNCHING OF FOIS NEWS BY SRHQ
• “FOIS NEWS”, THE QUARTERLY LEAFLET WAS LAUNCHED DURING
APRIL 2007 BY SRHQ.

• IT IS INTENDED TO POPULARISE FOIS AT THE FIELD LEVEL.

• THIS ATTEMPT TO ISSUE A SEPARATE PERIODICAL FOR FOIS IS THE

FIRST IN THE INDIAN RAILWAYS.

• GUIDELINES,NAVIGATIONS,FACTS & FIGURES OF VARIOUS IT

PROJECTS, MODIFICATIONS IN FOIS SOFTWARE ETC. ARE BEING
COVERED IN “FOIS NEWS”.
• OCC/SRHQ/MAS TAKES STEPS TO ENSURE THESE LEAFLETS REACH
THE FOIS LOCATIONS OVER SR.

• THESE LEAFLETS ARE SENT TO OTHER ZONAL RAILWAYS ALSO IN

VIEW OF THE SPECIFIC REQUESTS OF FROM THEM.

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RELEASING OF THE FIRST EVER FOIS INSPECTION REGISTER IN
IR BY SHRI.ABRAHAM JACOB, THE THEN COM/MAS ON
21.02.2007

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RELEASING OF FIRST EVER FOIS FAILURE REGISTER IN IR ON 21.02.2007
BY SHRI.ABRAHOM JACOB THE THEN COM/MAS

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 OTHER RAILWAYS TO FOLLOW

CAO/FOIS/CRIS/NDLS HAS ADVISED ALL

ZONAL RAILWAYS TO ADOPT THE
FAILURE REGISTER AND FOIS
INSPECTION REGISTER AS DEVISED BY
THE SRHQ.

58
 MODIFICATIONS OF FOIS SOFTWARE

• BASED ON THE FEED BACK OF THE USERS,

BOTH RMS AND TMS SOFTWARES ARE
CONSTANTLY UPGRADED.
• CRIS OBTAINS CLARIFICATIONS FROM THE
RAILWAY BOARD, IF NECESSARY BEFORE
MAKING SOFTWARE CHANGES.
• CRIS CONSTANTLY WORKS ON FOIS
SOFTWARE TO MEET THE CHALLENGES OF
DAY TO DAY WORKING AND RELEASES NEW
IMPROVED VERSIONS PERIODICALLY.

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 CONCLUSION OF IT VISION 2025 DOCUMENT

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IS THE

ONLY ENABLING METHOD AVAILABLE
THAT CAN ALLOW FOR THE MOST COST
EFFICIENT OPTIMIZATION OF RAILWAY
RESOURCES, INCLUDING LINE
CAPACITY-NOW ARE IN THE
FORESEEABLE FUTURE.

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