Railway commuters will soon be able to access information about all trains being operated on a real-time basis, along with a bouquet of railway services, on their smart phone.
The Southern Railway is developing an app which will be a worthy replacement for all the ‘unofficial’ apps available currently for checking the timings of suburban services and obtaining information about long-distance trains. A senior official of the Southern Railway said a yet-to-be christened railway app, is being tested on the Android platform. It will provide all information regarding train operations of the Southern Railway, he added.
At present, there are a number of apps providing details of suburban trains as well as long-distance trains operated by the Southern Railway, available on both the Android and iOS platforms, the official said. But this is the first time that the Southern Railway will be officially launching an app, updated with the latest train timings, including day-to-day operational changes like line blocks and train delays caused by operational issues. The app has been developed in-house by the Commercial department and is proposed to be launched by August end on the Google Play store, he added.
In addition the app would have among other features Value Added Services of booking a train coach, registering the residents demand for special trains and information about mega festivals happening in a town for Southern Railway to run any special trains for the occasion.
Will help users
Sridhar Joshi, a member of railway fan club and a regular commuter, said this official app would be really useful to not only regular rail users but more to occasional railway users in getting updated train timing data. However lack of coordination between the departments of the Southern Railway in updating the data could turn out to be misinformation for the user which has to be overcome, he added.
The app would contain important contact numbers of Railway Protection Force, Government Railway Police, and e-catering.