CHAPTER 10

T 17 Computerized Passenger Reservation System (PRS)

10.1 Introduction: With the implementation of computerised passenger reservation system on Northern Railway in year 1985-86 at New Delhi, a modest beginning was made which has completely revolutionised the process of passenger reservation service on Indian Railways. To begin with the computerised reservation at Delhi was implemented on small VAX-750 computer with just 30 terminals. The success and the public enthusiasm which resulted. Prompted Railways not only to quickly cover entire Delhi area but to extend computerised reservation facility at many other cities. Today it is a matter of great pride and satisfaction that highly complex but successful network of computerised reservation is available at more than 20 major towns including 4 metros of India, covering almost 25% of the reservation facility available on IR. PRS is equipped with latest state of art technology both in the field of computer and data communication systems. As a matter of policy and due to technical reasons, it was decided to have PRS computers only at Delhi, Bombay, Madras, Calcutta and Secunderabad which cover bulk of reservation volume and to have remote terminals at other major cities connected to host PRS computers through data links. Today all PRS hosts are CRIS to network all the computers to provide an integrated reservation system on IR. 10.2 Features of the PRS system:

10.2.1 The Hardware: Delhi: The Delhi system started with a DECs VAX-750 CPU with a back-up initially and later on, to handle more terminals and trains the system was replaced with the larger VAX-8600 system with an additional 8600 as a back-up cum developmental system. DECs VT 220 terminals along with LA50/LA75 printers were used with the terminals connected directly to the system through DMZ-32 controller cards. Line Printers of 600LPM speed are used for printer of reservation charts. In the second phase, terminals were extended to 12 more remote locations within the city, by using railways own dedicated cables with more than 60 reservation terminals working in these locations. A point-to-multipoint UHF system from Harris Corp./USA has also been commissioned which also shares the communication load thereby avoiding any shutting down of outlying reservation offices due to communication link failures. 4800 bps modems of Codex make along with Codex statistical multiplexers have been used to extend the reservation terminals to the remote sites without any change in the application software. During 1989-90 remote terminals were connected from DLI to LKO and BPL after adding one more CPU-VAX6240 and operating all the CPUs in a cluster. Installation of terminals at Varanasi, Jodhpur & Agra is in progress now. Reservation terminals have already been commissioned at Gorakhpur, Jaipur, Jammu, Kanpur, Allahabad, Amritsar. The Delhi on line system is working with a total load of more than 300 terminals at present.

Bombay: In year 1987, two VAX 8650 systems have been commissioned at Bombay VT. Besides main reservation complex at BBVT, terminals have been provided at BCT & CCG using DOT rented cable circuits as well as Railway links. Use of ethernet LAN to connect terminals through terminal servers has been implemented at Bombay. Terminals are connected to _ to Thane, Kalyan and Borivli also. About 50 terminals have been extended to ADI using DOT rented circuits during 1989-90 by using a sophisticated switching multiplex or technology. This extension also necessitated the addition of another CPU-VAX 6310 to the existing VAX 8650 cluster at BBVT. Extension of about 25 terminals to pune is supported through switching multiplexer technique using CODEX 6745 concentrator. Reservation terminals connected to Bombay PRS computer are also planned at Nagpur, Vadodara and Surat. Calcutta: In culcutta, PRS has been implemented in 1986-87 starting with twin VAX 8650 CPU cluster and terminals have been extended in the local area to Fairlie Place, GRC, NKG, HWH, SLDH etc. suing cable connections and also a sophisticated digital UHF TDMA network of TRT/France design. The CPU is under upgradation by adding one more VAX 6310 CPU this year to connect remote terminals from Patna, Bhuvneshwar, Cuttack and Guwahati. Madras: At Madras, initially services were started with the CAX 750 released from DLI but later on a twin CPU cluster of VAX 6230 have been commissioned to provide full fledged PRS services in Madras area as well as at Bangalore. Besides main reservation complex at Moore Market, inter-city reservation terminals have been provided at Madras Egmore. Beach and Mumbalam. In year 1989, Bangalore with about 40 terminals was commissioned with connectivity provided to main PRS computer at Madras through a pair of switching multiplexors of Codex make, 8 Nos. DOT leased data circuits have been used between MAS & SBC. Extension of terminals to TVC has also been completed with a tailend connection from the Bangalore and thereby saving some rental cost in view of lesser distance as compared to connecting TVC directly to MAS. Extension of terminals to Coimbatore, Tricharapally, Madurai etc. on S.Rly. is also done for 1991-92 Hyderabad: At Hyderabad it was decided to go for an indigenous mainframe to keep an alternative option to the imported VAX systems. Twin Cyber-930 systems supplied by public sector ECIL have been commissioned at Secunderabad in 1989 with terminals also working at Nampally and Kachiguda besides main reservation complex at Secunderabad. Plans are on for extension to BZA and TTE in near future. 10.2.2 The PRS software: The application package, running under the VMS operating system on DECs VAX computers has been developed by M/s. CMC in Fortran 77 and is a total custom-built data-base system in itself with all functions such as terminal monitoring, terminal cursor control., data-field length verification, all data validations, allocation logic, data-base operations including record locking, journalling, recovery functions etc. being looked after by the application program itself. All communications from the terminals to the application is on a character by character basis. The PRS application software is named as IMPRESS (Integrated Multi Passenger Reservation system). In case of Cyber system at Secunderabad, PRS application package, also in Fortran runs under NDSV operating system.

10.2.3 Local Terminal Communications: At the major reservation complexes where host PRS computer is also located, the local terminals are asynchronous dumb terminals. These terminals are connected to computer system either through line driver (as at Delhi IRCA and Secunderabad) or through an Ethernet LAN using DECSERVERS \9as at BBVT. MAS & Calcutta). These local terminals operate at 9600 bps and provide very good response time. In case of remote terminals, which are connected to PRS computer through communication links, intelligent terminals have been used. These terminals have the facility to down line load the various chosen formats thereby improving the response time. Some of the remote locations (LKO, ADI for example) have also used floppy less PCs which also have the capability of Hindi transliteration. This implies that Hindi printing on ticket is now done locally by the PC through transliteration software as against transferring graphic information for Hindi printing in case of other terminals. All the terminals communicate with the host computer in character mode. The application software has been designed to accept information from the terminals character by character. This method, of course has provided better operator interface as he need not to worry about cursor positioning, field length etc., however, from communication angle, screen mode data transfer would have been more efficient. Work is in progress to change over from character by character transmission to screen mode. Except for the use of the tab by the operator when the maximum field length allowed is not reached, in all other cases, the cursor is guided by the application from field to field by keeping a count of the characters received from the beginning of each field. The type and logical validations are simultaneously done and if any errors are detected an error message is flashed at the bottom of the screen. After all the fields are successfully accepted the availability position is flashed on the screen with the record locked for a maximum of en seconds for the operator to consult the passenger and take further action to either commit the transaction or flush it or go back to the filled up form in edit mode to do any modifications without the need to retype other valid fields again. After a reservation is committed the ticketing information is dumped on to the terminal and the ticket is printed on the auxiliary printer. At present to print the Devanagari characters the dot addressing information for graphic mode printing is sent from the CPU. 10.2.4 Remote Terminal Communications: In major metro towns, PRS terminals have been distributed over a wide geographical area to facilitate travelling public to get reservation done from the nearest location rather than coming to the main reservation complex. Similarly PRS terminals have been extended to major cities connected to host computer. In all these cases role of communication links and data communications systems become important. Within cities either it is cable or UHF or both which have been widely used to provide data links. In case of inter city, data links are mostly leased from DOT and in links which are voice grade, operate at 4800 bps with a fall back to 2400 bps. Since the communication taking place between a remote terminal & PRS host computer is asynchronous type, some mechanism has to be provided to take care of errors (detection and correcting) taking place on the data link. Besides, to make efficient use of data link by supporting more than 1 terminal on each link, principle of

statistical multiplexing has been used. This has been achieved with the use of statistical multiplexers. More follow about characteristics of modems and statistical multiplexors. As briefly mentioned in introductory paragraph today all PRS computers are stand alone systems with no host to host communication. This implies that a terminal connected to Bombay system cannot make reservation for a train defined on Delhi system. This will be possible in near future when all PRS computers get networked to provide an integrated service. However, to provide, some relief to travelling public, few PRS terminals of Bombay at Delhi and vice versa, have been provided using statistical multiplexers and long distance communication link between BBVT-DLI. Similar facility is available between DLI-MAS, DLI-CAL, BBVT-SC, BBVT-MAS, CALMAS and vice versa. In this case reservation is to be made at a dedicated terminal. This is only a temporary arrangement which shall be discontinued once networking of computers is implemented. 10.2.5 Automax and messaging terminals. There are many smaller cities where there are no or very small reservation quotas. Such location, however, may be sending Reservation message for onward/return journeys. Many of these messages either come on teleprinter or through courier or telegraph and obviously take lot of time to confirm the accommodation status to the passengers. Computerised reservation facility has been extended to such locations as well through what is know as AUTOMAX. It is a message switch which is directly interfaced to PRS computer. Auto text terminals are available at smaller locations connected to Automax switch through 50 baud V.F.T. lines. Thus a message inputted through autotext terminal directly inter acts with PRS host and gets accommodation availability. However, such terminals do not provide a system printed ticket and response is much slower than normal reservation terminal. Automax is a proprietary message switching system from CMC. There are certain locations like Bombay VT where CMCs automax is also required to talk to non-CMC switch (for example WEBFIL). Here format conversion has been done through a convertor so that messages received on WEBFIL can be sent to automax and vice versa. Existing teleprinters can also work with automax in place of autotext terminals. 10.3 Data communication approach for remote PRS terminals: 10.3.1.Data Links: A large No. of data links are required to support remote PRS terminals. Since Railways own microwave network is not able to meet channel requirement, most of the data links are leased from DOT. In case of DOT leased circuits, local lead at each end is always a weal link. To avoid so called last mile problem, wherever feasible, dedicated cables have been provided. Most of these links, are able to work at 4800 bps. It may be noted that data links leased from DOT are the most expensive commodity and expenditure is of recurring nature. To give an idea. DOT charges Rs.500 per KM for a point to point data circuit at 2400 bps. For 4800 bps. Charges are 1.5 times and if multiplexing is done to support more than one terminal on the data link, charges are further doubled. Thus it works out to Rs.1.500 per km. The cost of 12 data links between BBVT-ADI is about one crore per year. A data link between DLIMAS cost nearly Rs.15 lakhs per year.

It is therefore, imperative that most efficient use of data link has to be make. 10.3.2 Data communication approach: To connect a remote PRS terminal to the host computer, a number of connectivity alternatives are available depending on type of data communication system used. A number of alternatives have been studied, field trials conducted and finally implemented in PRS environment. These alternatives which have been tried are: a) ii) iii) Statistical multiplexors approach Use of X.25 based packet switch Use of proprietary switching multiplexors or data concentrator.

10.3.3 Statistical multiplexers: This is the proven and most widely used approach. Statistical multiplexors enable the same data link to be shared by many terminals by use of time division multiplexing technique and allotting time slots dynamically to terminals only when actual data traffic is waiting. Statistical multiplexors are normally specified in terms of no. of user ports, composite link speed flow control, user port characteristics and method of configuration. It is a software controlled product. The major limitation of stat mux. Approach is failure of all terminals connected to it during link failure. For PRS mostly 8 port statistical muxes have been used. These have been initially imported from Codex and Paradyne (both US firms). The cost of imported mux has been $1500 to $2000 FOB per unit. CMC has also developed a 7 port stat mux, however, its performance has not been very satisfactory. M/s. Cygnus, a Hyderabad based firm has developed the 8 port mux indigenously which are in use for more than 2 years and giving satisfactory performance at Bombay, Delhi & Hyderabad PRS. Muxes from M/s. Motorola Blue Star based on Codex technology and M/s. CASE/UK have been procured on rupee payment and are in use in PRS environment. Now these 8 port muxes are available for price as low as Rs.35,000 per unit. 10.3.4 X.25 concentrator: Philips make X.25 switch cum PAD have been tried in PRS environment as concentrators. However, due to character by character data transfer in PRS, overheads have been significant as each character goes as a packet causing response time problem. This approach may be useful as and when PRS data transfer is changed to screen mode. 10.3.5 Use of proprietary data concentrators: It was found during the planning for remote PRS that in developed countries sophisticated software based data concentrators were being introduced to reduce the rental costs. Due to the uncertainties of using X.25 concentration for PRS it was decided to go in for proprietary type of data concentrators. Failure of terminals on link failure in use of stat mux approach was another major consideration to go in for data concentrators which could handle multiple links. Accordingly after detailed tender evaluation by CRIS the CODEX 6745 FNX data concentrator was selected for BB-ADI and MAS-SBC. Being a new approach and such equipment coming to India

for first time with no past experience it was not extended to LKO and BPL which were commissioned using conventional stat mux approach. The CODEX 6745 FNX is a mini computer by itself and when fully equipped it can connect 192 terminals or computer ports on one side and handle 16 datalinks as a pooled resource or group of logical links on the network side. This brings in a lot of benefits such as balancing of load on all lines thus improving the line utilisation without affecting the response time, increase in reliability as a loss of few links will not result in failure of any terminals etc as data gets automatically re-routed to working links. In case of traditional one to one statmux approach, failure of the data link will result in the loss of all the terminals connected to it. The data concentrator also uses complex data compression algorithms so that a shorter bit pattern can be dynamically allotted to frequently used characters thereby reducing considerably the actual data to be transmitted. With these advantages it was seen in S.Rly during the recent BSNL strike that only two Railway links could support 28 terminals at SBC with only slightly increased response time. The number of links can be brought down by almost 50% by the use of data concentrators as compared to statmux approach. Also the 6745 has inbuilt hardware and power supply redundancy so that failure of a single CPU card or power supply card does not bring the entire node down. It is also possible to connect the 6745 nodes on point-to-point or delta or mesh configuration giving benefits of alternative routing. The 6745 concentrators incorporate many software controlled features for controlling, configur9ing, dynamic reconfiguration, collection of line and terminal data statistics, generation of status reports etc. It was quite attractive fro the Railways Bangalore and Ahmedabad in view of the large number of terminals required at these locations. Another benefit is to tail end smaller locations in 6745 FNX. Today Trivandrum is working through tail end connectivity at SBC rather than connecting it to main computer at MAS. This has saved on line rentals due to shorter length of datalink. 10.3.6 Network Management System: On line monitoring remote diagnostics and configuring, generating statistical reports on various data communication systems, performance monitoring of data links through a centralised control is being increasingly used world wide in complex data networks. Through a desk top PC, one could monitor the entire network. In this respect IR has not logged behind. First network management system DNCS200 from Codex was installed on N.Rly in 1985. Subsequently Bombay and Calcutta had Codex 4840 and Paradynes analysis systems respectively in year 1987. These systems could monitor data links, configure the modems and perform diagnostic functions. No more sophisticated test equipment is required to find out S/N ratio of the line receive level, frequency shift, impulse noise etc. all this can be shown on the PC monitor at a flip of keys-fast and accurate. One need not to disconnect data links to measure its performance parameters. With the installation of Codex 6745 switching multiplexors on BBVT & MAS. This system is capable of monitoring configuring all the network devices including 6745 FNX, modems stat muxes from the NMS console. One can change the configuration of 6015 stat mux at Trivandrum stating at Madras. However, all these Network Management systems are of proprietary nature and can monitor only some vendor supplied equipment. 10.3.7 Details of modem in PRS: Computer and terminals are digital devices which have to be interfaced with data links which at present are voice frequency analog circuits. Modem is that wonderful

device which has taken computing power of computers outside the computer roomacross cities, countries and also across the globe. Modems connect the digital computers/terminals RS-232 25 pin interface connector on one side and a 2 wire or 4 wire balanced 600 m interface on the VF line side. PRS on Indian Railways, have used one of the most sophisticated modems available in the world. These modems use adaptive line equalization to work under worst line conditions. The modulation scheme used in QAM (Quadrature amplitude Modulation) Automatic train on data and other features help in keeping the synchronisation and retraining fast in case of loss of synchronisation. Latest VLSI technology makes these devices very reliable and MTBF is very high. Modem are also capable of monitoring circuit quality directly on its front panel without the need of separate test and measuring equipment. One can measure S/N ratio, receive level, phase hit, gain hits, impulse hits, frequency shift, errors, harmonic distortion through soft controls on the front panel of modems. PRS has used 4 wire lease line modems conforming to CCITT v.27 bis standards, with 4800 bps speed and fall back of 2400 bps. Bombay and Calcutta PRS have used 9600 bps modems as well conforming to V.29 standards. Most of these modems are network manage type i.e. these modems can be centrally managed through a Network Manager. Initially modems were imported from codex and Paradyne both U.S. firms. Codex has supplied CS48FP, 2525 and 2645 modems while Paradyne has supplied MPX 9600 and latest 3400 series modems. Cost of these modems has varied between $1600 to $2200 FOB with the exception of Codex 2645 which is $2800 FOB. Codex data communication products are now manufactured in India under joint venture between Motorola/USA and Blue Star Ltd. Similarly ESPL, a public sector company manufactures lease line modems in technical collaboration with Racal Milgo/USA. Though, there are many varieties of modems now in Indian market. However, PRS has used the best equipment with distinct features of network control and front panel monitoring and capability to work under worst line conditions.

10.4 PRS Networking: 10.4.1 Introduction: Another area under active planning is Networking of the PRS computers. This is to be distinguished clearly from the present facilities made available for return reservation etc. by providing remote terminals of one PRS node at the location of other nodes and vice-versa. The true networking will allow the computers to communicate to each other and remote transactions can be submitted from all the terminals owned by the local node. This has thrown up a number of challenges requiring in depth study of various areas ranging from commercial rules to network architecture. 10.4.2 Application software for networking: This is the most challenging task involving a major effort in designing a new application software. It is felt that present application package (IMPRESS) developed in 1985 will require such major modifications that efforts involved will be quite significant. More over present software is highly inflexible.

In a networked environment, functional requirements shall change totally and system shall be much more complex as it will be required to cater multileg journeys, telescopic benefits, complex accounting function and so on. After a careful study and with the availability of transaction processing platforms on DEC system, it has been decided to develop a new application software for Networking. The job has been entrusted to CRIS with Central Railway PRS as the coordinating agency. Functional specifications have been finalised and a MICRO vax computer system has been installed in CRIS exclusively for development of application software. digital equipment corporation USA (DEC) has announced number of transaction processing (TP) packages on which it will be easy to develop on line applications as PRS. Currently RTR (Reliable Transaction Route a TP package from DEC is being evaluated for development of networking software. The four VAX systems at Bombay, Culcutta Madras & Delhi shall be networked initially while putting non-VAX PRS host computer at Secunderabad on the network shall require a special interface which shall be taken up in second phase after networking of VAX computers in successfully implemented. 10.4.3 Network Topology: A mesh topology is being planned for networking of various PRS computers. In fact, a pair of leased data circuits is already available between various PRS hosts viz., DLI-CAL, DLI-BBVT, DLI-MAS, MAS-CAL, MAS-BBVT, SC-BBVT. Which shall be used for networking. Few network architectures have been under consideration, however, final aim is to have a network conforming to ISOs OSI standards (Open system inter connect). In this architecture lower three layers conform to X.25 specifications. To begin with DECs DECNET architecture can be implemented which can later migrate to OSI standards. 10.5 Other aspects of PRS: 10.5.1 Use of satellite data links: The Remote Area Business Messaging Network (RABMN) of Dot commissioned recently may be tried for linking remote stations where normal BSNL links may not be available or are unreliable. (e.g. North frontier areas from Calcutta PRS) Direct terminals or teleprinter interfaces might be used sharing one VSAT link working at 1200 bps, provided the rental and other maintenance costs do not become prohibitive. 10.5.2 Use of Radio Frequency modems: Trials have been conducted using Radio frequency modems interfaced to VHF half duplex sets and connecting PRS terminals through this data link. 1200 and 2400 bps speeds have been found to be quite successful on WEBEL make VHF sets. Extension of 1 or 2 terminals at a radius of 8 to 10 Kms with a reasonable line of sight will be possible at a cheap cost through these modems. 10.5.3 Conclusion:

This paper has tried to briefly touch upon the remote terminal working in use in the PRS systems of IR by the use of traditional and sophisticated data communication techniques. Only an overall picture has been presented and for details of specifications and product information relevant data sheets of the vendors may be referred. Some of the data sheets for Codex products are enclosed.

Types of Data Communication Equipment used on PRS 1. DELHI PRS Model/Make Modems STAT MUX CS48FB 2525 3430 6002 6003 2030 Link share508 DCX818 DNCS 200 2645 2525 6003 6015 LINK SHARE 508 6745 4800 BPS 4800 BPS 4800 BPS 4 PORT 8 PORT 8 PORT 8 PORT Supplier CODEX CODEX/MBS* PARADYNE CODEX PARADINE/USA CYGNUS CASE/UK * CODEX

NETWORK CONTROL 2. BOMBAY PRS MODES STAT MUX SWITCHING MUX

9600 BPS 4800 BPS 8 PORT 10 PORT 8 PORT 192 PORT/

CODEX CODEX/MBS* CODEX/MBX* CODEX CYGNUS* CODEX

16 LINKS 7 PORT NETWORK CONTROL 3. MADRAS PRS MODEMS STAT MUX SWITCHING MUX NETWORK CONTROL CALCUTTA PRS MODEMS STAT MUX 5. NETWORK CONTROL SECUNDERABAD MODEMS STATMUX 6300 5500 PRS 3400 2030 LINK SHARE 508 *** 4800 9330 2525 6015 6745 4800 BPS 8 PORT 7 PORT 192 PORT/16 LINKS 4800 BPS 9600 BPS 7 PORT 8 PORT 4800 BPS 8 PORT 8 PORT

CMC* CODEX CODEX CODEX/MBS* CODEX CMC * CODEX

4.

2525 MPX

CODED/MBS* PARADYNE CMC* CODEX/MBS* PARADYNE PARADYNE PARADYNE CYGNUS