The Indian Railways is working on using artificial intelligence and data analytics in a big way to improve its operational efficiency.
The national transporter is planning to use AI and data analytics in train operations, passengers ticket booking, maintenance of systems, freight operations, and railways assets.
"We will analyse all this data with the help of AI and analytics and use it in our Passenger Reservation System (PRS). This will also help in introduction of new trains, predictive asset maintenance," said an official.
"Unlike the present system of carrying out maintenance in a periodic manner, a predictive asset maintenance system will continuously monitor the condition of equipment and generate the required alerts. This will help us to take up immediate maintenance," said the official.
This will not only reduce in cost of maintenance costs but also help to cut down load on maintenance of assets, said the official.
The Indian Railways has tied up with the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, for analysing the data generated by the national transporter.
The railways tasked ISB to plan an introductory capacity building program and formulate a report on the industrial practices of AI on rail transport.
The railways is also planning to set up a Centre for Excellence in this regard in the next three months. The ISB will help in developing a report on establishing the Centre for Excellence and an advanced capacity building programme.
The railways has also decided to appoint a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) in every zonal railways, whose mandate will be to keep track of emerging technologies in analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) and use it in the rail system.
The railways has already trained around 100 officials in data analytics and related fields so far.