Online seat reservation system for train passengers

149 ONLINE SEAT RESERVATION SYSTEM FOR TRAIN PASSENGERS Poshene Sivaruban1 ,Chathuri Dilrukshi2, Mr. P. H. A. B. Shantha3 1University of Sri Jayewardenepura, [email protected] 2University of Sri Jayewardenepura , [email protected] 3University of Sri Jayewardenepura , [email protected].lk Background Organization and Business Domain Technology has seen many developments and transformation within the past few decades in Sri Lanka. Being one of the most important Services in Sri Lanka transportation sector, especially Sri Lankan Railways is still at nadir in terms of managing its supply with the demand. Currently the sector has approximately 396 trains which include 67 Long Distanced and 16 Intercity trains. The service is carried out approximately for 3.72 Million passengers daily (Anon., n.d.), and managed manually. The objective of this project is to provide a solution to manage the surplus demand for Railways Transportation with a complete web-based system which is an Online Reservation System for Train Passengers. Overview of the Existing System How the existing system functions Reservation for seats is opened 30 days before the journey. The reservations can be done either physically by visiting the nearest Railways Station or calling via MOBITEL/DIALOG/HUTCH/SLT which is M-Ticket Reservation (Sri Lankan Railways Department, 2011). The existing web-based application provide all information about train schedules along with ticket fare and facilitates calculation of ticket charges. Therefore, passengers can check the website and do the reservations. 150 Problems with Existing System Though reservations are enabled 30 days before the scheduled journey, all seats gets reserved within one or two hours of enabling seat reservations, The Web based application provides only the necessary information to do reservations, but not enabled with the facilities to do online seat reservation and lack of a proper methodology to reallocate seats following cancellations and to view reports to understand consumption pattern. System Analysis Problem Analysis Issues Faced by Passengers in The Current System Passengers waste time by staying in ques for long hours, Necessity to do early bookings due to increase in demand, Lack of a well-Organized Communication System, Absence of a proper system to reallocate seats following cancellations to optimize utilization of capacity, Complicated reservation process for Warrant passengers and enabling special facilities for Differently abled passengers in terms of seat reservations. Issues Faced by The Railways Department in The Current System Maintenance of a proper documentation on schedules and journey details for future reference, Monitoring seat reservations to identify sudden surges and empty bookings backed up with appropriate statistics for a better decision making, Handling frauds such as risk of tickets being resold those results in a revenue loss for the Railways Department and Implementing attractive campaigns to attract foreign tourists. 151 Requirement Analysis Business Requirements Create a User account for every customer based on Passenger type (Cash/Warrant), Enter destination and draft a schedule of journeys available for reservation, Reserve seat and Pay to confirm, Cancel reservation and right to refund, Ability to reserve seats using warrant by submitting necessary documents and Cancel if not necessary. Generation of an Electronic ticket as a proof for payment and regular Notifications on Amendments to Travel Schedules. Only the Employees from Administration Department should have the access to generate and view reports. Functional Requirements Database connection to store all data such as Customer information, Train schedules, Seat reservations with a unique identity etc, Authentication to differentiate between various User Levels; such as Passenger and Employees (Admin) based on their types and Staff enabled with Amendment to train schedules and warrant approval with differentiated User Access, Ticket fare and refunding calculation should be accurate while Payments and Refunding being handled via payment platforms maintaining security at the optimum level. System Development Development Methodology used The methodology considered for this project is Agile methodology to develop a high-quality while incorporating customer requirements and releasing a usable component at the end of every Sprint. This would also facilitate to carry on future enhancements on a smooth flow. Further, the testing plan includes aspects such as user-friendliness, compatibility, security, performance etc. 152 Technologies used Visual Studio Code: the IDE to develop the software, Visual studio code editor; the development tool for both program codes and user interfaces of the train reservation system, CSS; to set text decorations and the developed interface includes icons, menus, dropdown lists and buttons. Conclusion It is an end-to-end automated system that provides all necessary information regarding travel schedules while facilitating online seat reservations for train passengers. Both normal and warrant passengers as well as employee (administration department) requirements have been taken into considerations when developing the solution. However, following enhancements are expected to be included to the system in future to improve its convenience of usage; view compartment seat arrangement, digitally signed electronic ticket, include payment platforms, e-mail/ SMS notifications on amendments to schedules and seat reservations and also to generate dashboards for employees of administration department. References Anon., n.d. Sri Lanka Railways: A snapshot of issues and ideas for improvement. Available at: https://www.advocata.org/commentaryarchives/2018/8/16 (Accessed: 30 August 2020). Sri Lankan Railways Department. (2011) Sri Lankan Railways. Available at: http://www.railway.gov.lk/web (Accessed: 30 August 2020).