The CMS has brought other benefits. For one it has made the railways a safer place. By reporting an abnormality like a defective signal as soon as he gets off his shift, a crew-member can save lives. The CMS passes on his observations quickly ensuring that the problem is fixed. "Earlier this was done manually. A crew-member would record an abnormality on a register, which a supervisor checked later. In the CMS, once an abnormality is reported, an SMS is immediately sent to the concerned authorities," says Ganju. The CMS has also made life easier for railway staff. Now they can check their PME (Periodical Medical Examination) and training dates on their mobiles.

The CMS is also environment friendly. By using thin clients instead of regular PCs, the Indian Railway saves between 50 percent to 85 percent in power. The kiosks use TFT instead of CRT monitors and that saves between 40 percent to 65 in power. In addition, the kiosks have led to reduced paper consumption at the lobbies.

"Economy is one of the reasons for implementing the CMS. The other is improving efficiency. In fact, it is operational efficiency that is more important than economics," say Chopra, director, CRIS.

Still, the CMS is a CFO's dream. CRIS has invested between Rs 8 crore and Rs 9 crore in phase one and Ganju says, "we're likely to see payback within one year by way of overtime control alone. The other benefits like a reduction in crew, reduction in cost because of faster decisions and greater railway safety cannot be evaluated at this point."

With the CMS, the Indian Railways' operational efficiency has increased. "It has ensured that crew is put to optimum use. With the CMS taking care of crew allocation, there is no scope for under utilization of any crew-member and the opposite is also avoided," says Ganju.