PASSENGER INFORMATION SYSTEMS

What are Passenger Information Systems?

Systems that facilitate dissemination of train related information to passengers are known as Passenger Information Systems (PIS).

CLASSIFICATION OF PIS
PASSENGER INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Systems provide information at station premises

Systems provide Information at passengers end

SYSTEMS PROVIDE INFORMATION AT STATION PREMISES

AUDIO (PA SYSTEM)

VIDEO

ALPHANUMERIC DISPLAY

TRAIN DISPLAY INTERACTIVE (POET) NONINTERACTIVE

COACH GUIDANCE

(CCTV)

SYSTEM PROVIDE INFORMATION AT PASSENGER END

INTERACTIVE

NON-INTERACTIVE

IVRS

CALL CENTER

INTERNET

TEXT MESSAGES FROM PLMN

PASSENGER OPERATED ENQUIRY TERMINAL (POET)

POET (PASSENGER OPERATED ENQUIRY TERMINAL) is a customized product, designed and manufactured for Indian Railways. This is an Enquiry Terminal by which passengers can enquire about the Railway Information such as:

1) The current status of Reserved ticket (W/L, RAC, confirmation)

2) The availability of a train from anywhere to anywhere, on any date for any class, etc. using an application s/w package developed by CRIS (Center for Railway Information system).

TOUCH SCREEN

What is a touch screen?

Touch screen monitors or displays enable usage of a computer or device by touching the display area with finger or stylus. No keyboard and/or mouse is required for interacting with the on-screen content. Depending on the touch screen technology used, either a finger or a stylus or a pen can be used instead of a mouse. For typing, an on-screen keyboard (standard on many operating systems) is used. A touch screen is very intuitive and easy to use, as the user simply touches what is seen on the display.

 Touch screen monitors save space as no keyboard or

mouse is required. Touch monitors can even be mounted on the wall. Touch displays are more reliable than mechanical buttons as there are no moving parts. Touch screens are easier to use than keyboards.

Touch screen systems can be easily re-configured because they are software driven.

System configuration
A basic touch screen has three main components. 1. Touch sensor 2. Controller 3. Software driver.

Touch sensor

A touch screen sensor is a clear glass panel with a touch responsive surface.

The touch sensor panel is placed over a display screen so that the responsive area of the panel covers the viewable area of the video screen.

Controller

The controller is a small PC card that connects between the touch sensor and the PC.

It takes information from the touch sensor and translates it into information that PC can understand.

Software Driver
The driver is a software update for the PC system that allows the touch screen and computer to work together.

It tells the computer's operating system how to interpret the touch event information that is sent from the controller.

Most touch screen drivers today are a mouse-emulation type driver.

CCTV SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM

These systems are categorized into two, viz 1.Analog based CCTV Surveillance System 2.IP enabled CCTV Surveillance System

Small and medium railway stations are to be provided with analog based CCTV Surveillance System Major railway stations are to be provided with IP based CCTV Surveillance System.

Analog based CCTV Surveillance System

IP based CCTV surveillance system

Applications of the IP based CCTV System includes Generating alarms on basis of size of object, direction of movement and speed of objects etc. Offers advanced outdoor motion detection. Mask constant source of motions like tree, rains etc. Supports network fault-tolerant recording Support triplex applications: recording, re-play and backup simultaneously. Supports recording of video and audio. Able to record up to 64 different video streams simultaneously Possible to playback more than one camera simultaneously

TRAIN INDICATION BOARDS

Train indication boards are provided at the entrance/exit, platforms and other public utility places of the railway station premises.

These are the display devices, which gives the information regarding train name, number, Train Arrival / Departure timing and Platform No. late running etc.

The system is either operated locally at a particular station or can be fed from Central location

Single line Double face train indicators at platforms at various locations along with platform length with clear visibility. Multiple line, Multiple row Single/Double face train indicators at the entrance of platforms as per the need of the stations and number of platforms at concourse / lobby. The software should be suitable for operation of Train indicators and should be capable to display approximately 200 Trains departing /arriving from the Railway Station with the capability for further up gradation to 500 Trains
The Display Board should be capable to display fixed slogans/ messages at the time of accidents/derailments in rolling, flashing & steady mode.

COACH GUIDANCE SYSTEM

The main objective of coach guidance system is to give proper and timely information to passengers regarding the position of various coaches of a train and to allow a smooth flow of passengers towards their respective coaches, thereby reducing the crowd at the enquiry counter. The Coach Guidance System enables the passengers to locate their coach for the Train on which they wish to travel.

SYSTEM OPERATION
When a train is arriving to a particular platform, the operator at the control room selects the train number from the pre loaded train data.

The data of the train is transferred to the display boards of that platform through the data communication exchange.

CALL CENTRE

Single window for the various Customer Service applications

One universal phone number like 139 will be available to the passengers/customers for accessing the various services available.

Information on the following services are made available to the customers:

Accommodation availability Reservation status Arrival & Departure of trains Fare structure Concessions Trains for different destinations Summer specials Information on passenger Amenities

SALIENT FEATURES OF THE CALL CENTER

Increased availability of services E-mail access Fax on demand Automatic announcing unit

Call back facility on confirmation of reservation

Accident related queries Registration of complaints

SYSTEM OF WORKING OF THE CALL CENTRE

When a customer dials the call center number the call will first land on the call center switch, which will direct it to any one of the free IVRS ports. After playing the welcome message by the IVRS, the customer will be prompted to exercise his language option by pressing the relevant digit.

Next he will be prompted to select the service he wants by pressing the relevant digit, which will be played to him in the language he has selected. Based on the service selected the information will either be conveyed by the IVRS itself or the call will be transferred to the agents.

2 E1 FOR IVR PBX 4 E1 (BSNL) CTI SERVER CTI LINK

PRS NTES

IVRS

SWITCH

AGENT PC (LAN)

AGENT PHONES

If all the agents are busy the call will be held in the wait queue. The dynamic position of the call in the wait queue will be conveyed to the customer continuously till the call is finally transferred to the free agent. The agent on receiving the call accesses the information required through the agent workstation and conveys the same to the customer. Railnet connectivity is provided to the CTI server to enable the customers to access the call center through Internet.
Out bound Fax for the fax on demand service will be accomplished through the Fax card installed in the CTI server.

PBX SWITCH
PBX Switch The PBX Switch used is an ISDN, 100% hot standby, in built ACD and CTI enabled exchange.
The switch is equipped with 8 El trunks, 72 analog extensions and 24 digital extension circuits. Connectivity from BSNL exchange to the call centre is through 4 El digital circuits (120 channels), which is terminated in the call centre switch.

The switch is interfaced with the IVRS system through 2 El circuits

and with the CTI server through the CTI link port in the switch.

CTI Server & Software The CTI Server is interfaced with the switch, the agent
workstations, the PRS & NTES Servers and the IVRS system.
The distribution of calls to IVRS system, transferring of calls from IVRS to agents, distribution of calls among agents, fetching of data from PRS & NTES servers, activation of out bound calls, processing of Fax on demand requests and passing on the real time call status information and call statistics to the agent monitoring and reports software is all done by the Call centre application software and Computer Telephony Integration software running in the CTI Server.

Agent Workstations & software

The agent workstations are connected on LAN with the CTI
server.
Each agent is given a user name and password that has to be entered in the login screen of the agent workstation for enabling the agents to receive calls. The calls will be distributed uniformly and to the maximum idle agent.

Agent monitoring and reports software

Through the agent monitoring software the supervisor can monitor on real time basis the status of the agents logged in. The names of the agents logged in, their extension number, their status (whether talking, wrap up or idle) and the time duration in that particular condition will be displayed on the screen of the supervisor computer.

It is possible for the supervisor to listen to the conversation between the agent and the customer and even intervene in the conversation if required. Through the reports software the various statistical reports regarding the performance of the call centre such as the total no. of calls arrived, the distribution of the calls among the various services, performance of individual agents etc could be generated.

Integrated Passenger Information System

RDSO SPECIFICATION FOR INTEGRATED PASSENGER INFORMATION SYSTEM (TRAIN INDICATION, COACH GUIDANCE AND PC BASED ANNOUNCEMENT SYSTEM)
SPECIFICATION NO. RDSO/SPN/TC/61/2006

Integrated Passenger Information System (IPIS) provides a Single system control and data entry for different types of passenger Information systems spanning over entire station. Integrated Passenger Information System covers technical requirement of PC based announcement system for announcing train information to passengers, Electronic display boards & coach display boards for displaying train information to passengers with the feature of networking and operation from a centralized place.

The Integrated Passenger Information System consists of : Two control consoles in redundant mode loaded with software Display boards of different sizes Coach guidance display boards At a glance Display boards CCTV PC based Announcement system

Train Charting Server

RS232

Optically isolated Current Loop Converter Multi Line Display At a Glance Display

video audio MDCH Single Line Display

Ethernet Switch Optically isolated Current Loop RS232 Converter

PDCH Manual Redundancy Switch

Voice announcement

System Description

TV Display

Main Screen

Reports Screen

Main Data Communication Hub

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