It's effect is already beginning to show. In his 2008-2009 Railway Budget speech, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav announced that the organization's operating ratio improved to 76 percent.

CRIS is eager to spread the goodness. Phase two is already underway and Ganju says that by September 2008, 140 more locations will come up in the eastern, southern and north frontier regions of the Indian Railways.

In the coming days, CRIS plans to integrate the CMS with other systems like the Freight Operating Information System (FOIS) and the Coach Management System. They also plan to integrate a breath analyzer with the system. These are already placed in the driver cabins of many trains but work on a standalone basis.

"We also have plans to develop flexi-reporting systems. This will enable management to design their own reports, according to convenient formats, which will further enable the improvement of services and performance," informs Ganju.

And importantly, the CMS will help streamline the organization, making it more able to take on its biggest competitor, the low cost airlines. "The purpose of the CMS is not to cut down the number of crew-members," says Chopra. "It's to use crew members on our rolls to run more trains efficiently. Every year we increase the number of trains. This is not about saving man-power, it's about using manpower better because we are in a growing market."