FACTS ON ADVANCE RESERVATION PATTERN FOR TRAINS ON DEEPAWALI EVE

There have been reports in the media that berths for the journey on 03/11/2010 (which is two days before Deepawali) on some of the popular trains bound for South such as Nellai, Pandian, Kanniyakumari, Ananthapuri, RockFort, Nilgiri, Cheran, Pothigai, Guruvayur and Mangalore Expresses, got booked in a matter of few minutes on the opening day i.e. 05/08/2010 itself.           The Computer Centre of PRS Chennai employs very powerful high-end computers which are capable of processing data at very high speed, running into million of instructions per second (MIPS). With Four such high-speed computers in Chennai Reservation System, the rate of booking for the passenger reservation applications is understandably quicker.           It has been ascertained through study that the system is capable of processing 20 to 30 successful transactions per second. This means, in a minute, the PRS can do 1200 to 1800 transactions successfully issuing reservations to around 2000 persons. The total number of berths available in popular trains in question put together is approximately 12,000 berths on a day.  At the current speed of processing, the time taken to do 12,000 successful transactions would be just 8 minutes.           To facilitate the individual passengers, the booking of tickets through IRCTC agents has been blocked for the first hour that is from 08:00 am to 09:00 am on any opening day including for Tatkal booking.           As per the information available in the system, the time taken for RAC/Waitlist to commence in the above popular trains for 05/8/2010 is appended below: Train No Name of Train Time of first RAC or Waitlist (Hrs/Mts) 2631 Nellai Express 08:03 2637 Pandiyan Express 08:02 2633 Kanniyakumari Express 08:08 2661 Pothigai Express 08:03 2693 Peral City Express 08:05 6177 Rockfort Express 08:08 6701 Mangalore Express 08:08 6723 Ananthapuri Express 08:06 2671 Nilgiri Express 08:06 2673 Cheran Express 08:04 This is made possible by the following reasons: a.               High speed of the System, which has the speed to process 20 – 30 transactions per second. b.               Popularity of the Internet Booking, on 05/08/2010 for the trains leaving on 03/11/2010, 70% of the transactions were done by the individual internet users. c.               In the first 8 minute and 10 seconds on 05/08/2010, around 3196 transactions have occurred and 8729 passengers have reserved their accommodations. d.               The precautions taken by Railway to help individual passengers by blocking bulk booking and Tatkal Booking on opening day. e.               Regular Preventive checks are being conducted in trains and at PRS locations to avoid malpractices. In addition to the above, Southern Railway is planning to introduce Deepawali special trains on these popular routes, which will be announced shortly.