The Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) rolled out an application for mobile and desktop running on Windows 8 OS, to help daily commuters, tourists and travelers track train position and schedule on a real-time basis, reports Press Trust of India (PTI) on April 23.

CRIS, as the information and technology arm of railways, improved and launched the National Train Enquiry System (NTES) and developed the applications as supported by Microsoft, says the senior Railway official.

The NTES is the back-end railway system providing public information on train schedules on almost real-time basis with the use of its website and several other interfaces such as touch screens, enquiry counters, mobile interfaces, station display boards and nationwide unique rail enquiry number 139. In September 2013, together with a mobile version, the NTES website interface was launched that proved it is useful for train commuters, as per PTI. 

Among the mobile app features are "spot your train," "train schedule," "trains between stations" and "cancelled trains."

Spot your train provides information on the current position, expected time of arrival/departure of a train at a particular station.

Train schedule provides complete train schedule including all stoppages en route, day count, distance and expected time of arrival/departure at a station.

Trains between stations shows a list of all available trains between two stations on a railway network.

Cancelled trains, meanwhile, enumerates all trains that are cancelled, whether through the entire route or partial route. Additionally, it also provides information on diverted and rescheduled trains.

While the mobile application was rolled out for Windows 8.0 mobile phones for now, CRIS says other platforms such as iOS and Android will also have the mobile app.

Commuters and travelers can have a quick look on the mobile and desktop applications, and try it out if it works for them. Supported processors are x86, x64, ARM. For Windows phone, download size is 1MB. The mobile app also works with Windows 8.1. For inquiries on Indian Railways, commuters may visit the NTES website.  

If the NTES works well, it is seen to ease woes of holiday travelers and daily commuters in India who may need a quick look at the schedules and hop on at the best time and train possible. The CRIS is an autonomous organization that is under the umbrella of the Ministry of Railways. Its functions include developing and managing Indian Railways' Information Technology applications as well as applications for the public sector and non-railway government organizations.