Indian Railways' amazing online Enquiry System

[jis]

Indian Railways runs an amazingly informative real time information system for all trains. It can be reached at:

http://enquiry.indianrail.gov.in/ntes/

It allows you to do the following:

• Current status of any train
• Arrival/Departure board of any station for a given window (default 2 hours)
• Listing of all available direct trains between any two stations with arrival/departure times and days of operation
• The schedule of any train
• The list of trains that have been canceled yesterday, today or tomorrow
• The list of trains that have been rescheduled for the day
• The list of trains that have been diverted including diversion points (from and to station)

It is pretty accurate almost all the time. There are certain parts of the system that are not fully integrated into it yet, but still it works over a very brod part of the system. Trains that are actually running, even if 15 hours behind schedule are not taken off the listing with "Service Disruption". Their actual state is reported, even if they are on a diversion route, with details of planned stops on the diversion route.

Just to try it out bring it up and then:

1. To see an NJ transit style departure board, click on "Live Stations", and then type in HWH in the "Enter station to get trains" filed, and hit "Go", and be impressed with the number of trains arriving and departing from Howrah station in a two hour window, specially during rush hours. Even between 7pm and 9pm IST I got some 73 trains! Mumbai CST (CSTM) is even more impressive with 147 trains arriving and departing in the two hours between 8pm and 10pm.

Get back to the front page by clicking on the X on the top right corner within the window (not the 'X" that kills the app.

2. To try out a train status, click on "Spot your Train". Just as an example type in 12301 in the Enter Train Name/No field. That is the Howrah (Kolkata) to New Delhi Rajdhani Express. Then type in HWH as the boarding station and select today's date from the calendar, and watch it bring up current status of the train. Click on the right on the "View Full Running", to see its expected itinerary, including even the platform numbers at many stations!

A more interesting case today 5/27/15 is the TVC Rajdhani (train 12432). Try it and see its "Full View Running". This train has been diverted today due to the blockage of the Delhi - Mumbai primary trunk route. It is running on a secondary route which is shown together with expected times at which it will pass various points on the diversion route!

3. If you select either "Trains Cancelled" or "Rescheduled" or "Diverted" today (5/27/15) you will get relatively long lists because there are at least three major things affecting service:

• The derailment of Muri Express on the Delhi - Kolkata main trunk line
• The derailment of a passenger train on a bridge on the main line connecting Assam to the rest of India
• A strike by a group on some political issue which involves them blocking the Delhi to Mumbai main trunk route

Anyway, if you happen to be going to India this is a great resource. There are mobile apps available for this too. Even if you are not going India but just want to get a feel for the scale of operations, it is a fun thing to play around with.

 

[caravanman]

Great stuff Jis, I am always impressed by Indian Railways that they can cope with so many "specials" within a busy timetable.

Being able to book my tickets in advance, on line from the UK would be a bonus!

Cheers!

Ed.

 

[cirdan]

Some of those trains are also making stunning recoveries, being able to arrive at destination on time despite being 3 hourse late at some intermediate station.

I guess there must be lots of recovery time in the system.

 

[jis]

Yes, generally schedules for trains other than the Shatabdis, Rajdhanis and Durontos are not very tight at all. Loots of padding and recovery time all over the place.

I just find it to be a fascinatingly complex and large system that seems to work most of the time.