With the assistance of Centre for Railway Information Systems has launched On-line ticketing facility which can be accessed through website irctc.co.in. Computerized reservation facilities were added at 245 new locations. At present these facilities are available at 758 locations in the country covering about 96 per cent of the total workload of passenger reservation. Computerized Reservation related enquiries about accommodation availability, passenger status, train schedule, train between pair of stations etc. have been made web enabled.

A pilot project for issuing monthly and quarterly season tickets through Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) has been launched in Mumbai this year and has been found very successful. Another pilot project for purchasing tickets including monthly and quarterly season tickets through Smart Card has also been launched.

"National Train Enquiry System" has been started in order to provide upgraded passenger information and enquiries. This system provides the train running position on a current basis through various output devices such as terminals in the station enquiries and Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) at important railway stations. So far the project has been implemented at 98 stations.

Freight Operations Information System (FOIS) Computerisation of freight operations by Railways has been achieved by implementing Rake Management System (RMS). Such FOIS terminals are available at 235 locations.

Railways have established their own intra-net 'Railnet' It provides networking between Railway Board, Zonal Headquarters, Divisional headquarters, Production Units, Training Centers etc.

Sterling Performance by PSUs The public sector undertakings of the Railways, especially IRCON and RITES, scored commendable achievements during the last three years. IRCON International has achieved a record turnover of Rs.900 crore during 2001-02 and the foreign exchange earnings of this prestigious organization has increased six fold over the years. At the international level, IRCON is at present executing different projects in Malaysia, Bangladesh and Indonesia. The PSU has registered a strong presence in the international scenario by its sterling track record.

RITES, another prestigious PSU under the Ministry has scaled new heights in performance, profit and dividend to the shareholders during the last three years. Its turn over increased from Rs.172 crore in 1999 to Rs.283 crore in 2002. RITES for its sterling performance secured the prestigious ISO-9001 Certification this year. The company has also entered into export/leasing of locomotives in different countries in Asia and Africa. RITES is operating all over the world including Columbia, UK, Iran, Malayasia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Indian Railways Finance Corporation Limited secured excellent rating for fourth year in succession by the Department of Public enterprises on the basis of the performance targets. Besides, Standards and Poor's, the international credit rating agency, also reaffirmed the sovereign ratings to IRFC. The Corporation has been making profits and paying dividends.

Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation ( IRCTC ) Internet based ticket booking has been launched by IRCTC in Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai and Calcutta this year. Hygienic and air-conditioned food plazas having consumer-friendly ambience opened at Pune and Chennai and license for similar plazas awarded for 17 more locations. In all, 50 such plazas will be opened by the end of this financial year across the zonal Railways. Railneer - packaged drinking water is to be made available from December this year.