Railways are introducing a new software to make their Time Table more robust with focus on punctuality to benefit passengers.

"The new software will take into account the various factors including impact analysis of train delays and other resource constraints so that the new Time Table will be more effective," said a senior official of Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) involved with the project.

Titled as SATSANG (software-aided train scheduling and network governance), the new software is specifically designed and developed for a unique and complex system like the Indian Railways.

Train scheduling on a large system like the railways is a complex problem of resource allocation. Track, rolling stock, locomotives and crew are all assigned to train services as per a time schedule in the system.

"The assignment of these resources has to be unique such that no resources has a dual claim on it at any point of time.

The scope of work for the softare project on time tabling is a huge exercise that required development of a tool that aids and enables the entire planning process," the official said.