India’s East Coast Railway introduces online parcel management system
The Waltair Division of East Coast Railway (ECoR) and CRIS are introducing an online Parcel Management System (PMS) in order to bring in greater transparency in the booking and delivery of parcels.
According to local sources, computer-generated receipts are now being issued by the parcel office. Once the weight of the goods and train number are fed into computer, the rates are generated automatically.
“Electronic weighing scales have been requisitioned and they will be installed after the Godavari Pushkarams [a 12-day religious festival which this year starts on 14 July]. Apart from ensuring accuracy, these electronic scales will be automatically reflected on the computer and thereby reduce the prospect of manipulation,” Senior Divisional Commercial Manager M. Yelvender Yadav was quoted as saying. He added that in the next phase of the project the company will introduce “hand-held ‘bar coding’ terminals” which will generate labels that will be affixed on the parcels.
“Once the train number is fed into the system, the system would immediately show whether parcel booking is available for the destination station,” said Commercial Inspector Ramakrishna.