With an aim at making the train operation system more efficient, Railways have undertaken a massive exercise of creating a database of its assets including track, station and signals through geographic information system (GIS) at an estimated cost of Rs 40 crore.

"An inventory of the entire railway network including land will be created through GIS and the preparatory work for the geospatial database is being carried out," a senior railway ministry official said.

The GIS-based data system would provide information about the life-cycle of a coach, wagon, locomotive, building, signalling system and other assets. One can also track the schedule of the repair or replacement of a particular asset like the signalling system or track on a particular route.

The system would also make the decision making process faster in crisis situation like accidents.

The disaster management system would facilitate location of accident site, its accessibility information, availability of required resources to initiate rescue operation, finding out the optimum routes between the resources and mishap site.

"The critical elements in disaster management and rescue planning and implementation are time and input data availability," the official said, adding "the access of GIS map on the screen will facilitate a faster response to the crisis."

The GIS map, a part of the database, will indicate the location of the accident relief and medical relief equipment trains near the accident site, besides the nearby hospitals and medical facilities.

As per the ongoing work, the entire network will be mapped on the GIS map referred with longitude and latitude.

"All stations would be located on the map with attributes and characteristics of stations," the official said.

The GIS-based data system of railway infrastructure and facilities would play a significant role in improving decision making capacity, efficiency and long term management of Railway assets.

Natural features like rivers, settlements, forest, national highways and roads near railway land and assets would feature in the GIS map. State boundaries would also be mapped onto the map along with districts and major cities.

Tracks would be classified on the basis of gauge (broad gauge, meter gauge and narrow gauge), electrified or non- electrified stations on GIS-based data.

"Most importantly the entire land record of railways will be digitised on GIS map which would be utilised for the proposed commercialisation purpose in a more effective way. Besides the planning of passenger amenities at rail premises would also become easier and benefit the passengers," the official said.