If Indian Railways is asked what it has done on the IT front, the immediate answer is Passenger reservation, and if one asks what else– there is silence.

The real situation is however very different. IR has invested huge amounts in IT, but the visible impact on railway working is just not there. Somehow, some of the key aspects of IT have not been addressed, as no one wants to bell the cat. Some instances and suggestions:

a) Every railway organization is still working either on the concept of a EDPM or IT officer. In today’s age, atleast with respect to IT, everyone is his own IT manager. It need be recognized that the use of IT will only come when people recognize its utility. Push from top is only one of the drivers of IT, pull also has to be there.

b) Railnet and railway email : Some of the most intelligent people run the railway railnet and email. However, every railway officer has a gmail or a yahoo id which he uses for his official work. This is the situation when email ids on linux platform can be made by a dime and dozen, at no cost. There is no place where I can complain about railnet, the helpdesk of railnet has ensured that it is a secret organization, and there are power seekers who distribute email ids on railnet — WHY?

c) Railways has a complete internal network, however providing access to information (train enquiry, PNR enquiry, railway codes and manuals, etc) on this network is seen as unnecessary and even if provided there is no cataloguing of the same to tell one — there is no google search engine on this network.

d) Internet access: Providing internet access to all, which should be a mission of the organization and also of the S&T and Finance wings, but is seen as a privilege which is to be selectively distributed. Railwaymen are overtly concerned about misuse of internet, pornography on internet, playing games on computers, etc, when the world has risen above it and made the individual responsible for it. The underlying philosophy that the organization  needs to be controlled, like the British controlled the Indians, has to go. Trust your fellow citizen and let him work.

A lot needs to be done for IR to start leveraging IT, and many of these at a fundamental level

i) Empower

ii) Trust

iii) Free and open access

iv) Enable