In the darkest hours of August 1, 1999, the Avadh-Assam Express collided with the Brahmaputra Mail in one of the worst rail disasters in India. It killed about 300 people and forced the then railway minister to resign. Inquiries into the accident pinned the blame on human error.

In a whitepaper, the Indian Railways holds human failure accountable for two-thirds of railway accidents. "When an accident occurs, the probability is in 65 percent of such cases, it is on account of staff failures. This ratio has not changed with time, training or technological input," says the paper. In 1999, the number of railway accidents totaled about 400. Fatigue among railway staff is never a reason given for the human error, though it is hard to discount. In its record of what the railways is doing to bring down staff failures, the whitepaper says the organization must reduce 'overwork hours' for train drivers.

That, however, is easier said than done.

But, it was exactly what was needed. Only a crew management system could track the hours crew-members logged, ensure that their duties were handed out evenly and that the entire workforce was employed optimally.

As the second-largest rail network in the world, the Indian Railways runs over 18,000 trains carrying about 18 million passengers (more than the population of Mozambique) -- every single day. To keep this enormous operation chugging, the railways employs 1.4 million employees. Reportedly, the organization is the largest employer in the world.