System Design

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am greatly indebted to my faculty and Guide, Prof. Srinivas Rao Puttur .He guided me through the inevitable ups and downs that charac-terize such a long and important project. Without his never ending striving for improvement, the present result would not have been gained. I also cordially thank my second advisor, Mr. Jignesh Khakkar, who always helped me to look for the big picture in my work.

Without mentioning Prof. Bhavin Kothari this acknowledgement cannot be written. He has always been the constant link and source of information throughout.

I would like to extend my thanks to Mr. A. Meena, Station Master, Gandhinagar Railway Station, for believing in me and speaking his heart out about Railways and Information System. Finally, a special thanks to all my friends at NID without whose support, I could not have completed this project work.

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INDEX

Introduction

Why Railways

Literature Survey System Identification

Secondary Research

Primary Research

Concept for System I

Concept for System II

Learning

Bibliography

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The Elephant Metaphor of Reality

The figure depicts the story of Six Wise Blind men who saw Elephant from different perspectives and gave their interpretations.At various times in the System Design Project it has provided insight into the relativism, opaqueness or inexpressible nature of truth, the behaviour of experts in fields where there is a deficit or inaccessibility of information, the need for communication, and respect for different perspectives.

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Introduction to System Thinking

Systems thinking have its foundation in the field of system dynamics, founded in 1956 by MIT professor Jay Forrester. Professor Forrester rec-ognized the need for a better way of testing new ideas about social sys-tems, in the same way we can test ideas in engineering. Systems thinking allows people to make their understanding of social systems explicit and improve them in the same way that people can use engineering principles to make explicit and improve their understanding of mechanical systems.

The Systems Thinking Approach

The approach of systems thinking is fundamentally different from that of traditional forms of analysis. Traditional analysis focuses on the separating the individual pieces of what is being studied; in fact, the word “analysis” ac-tually comes from the root meaning “to break into constituent parts.” Sys-tems thinking, in contrast, focuses on how the thing being studied interacts with the other constituents of the system—a set of elements that interact to produce behavior—of which it is a part. This means that instead of isolat-ing smaller and smaller parts of the system being studied, systems thinking works by expanding its view to take into account larger and larger numbers of interactions as an issue is being studied. This results in sometimes strik-ingly different conclusions than those generated by traditional forms of analysis, especially when what is being studied is dynamically complex or has a great deal of feedback from other sources, internal or external. The character of systems thinking makes it extremely effective on the most dif-ficult types of problems to solve: those involving complex issues, those that depend a great deal dependence on the past or on the actions of others, and those stemming from ineffective coordination among those involved.

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Why Railways:

It is an Indian state-owned enterprise, owned and operated by the Government of India through the Ministry of Railways. It is one of the world’s largest railway networks comprising 115,000 km (71,000 mi) of track over a route of 65,000 km (40,000 mi) and 7,500 stations. As of December 2012, it transported over 25 million passengers daily (over 9 billion on an annual basis). In 2011, IR car-ried over 8,900 million passengers annually or more than 24 million passengers daily (roughly half of which were suburban passengers) and 2.8 million tons of freight daily. In 2011–2012 Indian Railways had revenues of INR1119848.9 million (US$17 billion) which consists of INR696759.7 million (US$11 billion) from freight and INR286455.2 million (US$4.4 billion) from passengers tickets.

It is this enormity of the system which interested me the most. A good solution can impact millions of people using this system.Further the idea was studied, the components in a rail-ways system were studied and the System to be explored was pin pointed i.e. “ Information System in Railways”.

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Literature Survey

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Determinants of Customer Satisfaction on Service Quality: A Study of Railway Platforms in India

The study states that Scholars have undertaken studies on various aspects of railway services, but platforms have failed to attract researcher attention. Railway platforms are an important part of the railway system. Waiting at a platform may range from 15 minutes to several hours (especially in the Indi-an context, where late running of trains is normal) to wait for a connecting train or due to late running of a train. A case was filed against Indian Railways highlighting the agony faced by the senior citizens and children due to delays in the arrival of trains (http://www.igovernment.in/site/Railways-pulled-to-court-for-running-trains-late/?section=Human%20Rights/).There are various angles to this situation, but in this paper the premise is that passengers necessarily have to use platform services, and their agony may be mitigated by making their stay at the platforms more comfortable. Hence, a study has been attempted to determine customer (passenger) perceptions of satisfactory service quality at railway platforms.

Objective of the study:The study aims to identify the factors for passenger satisfaction regarding facilities provided on platforms. Customer satisfaction has been commonly accepted as an indicator of service quality However, the literature shows that there is no consensus onthe determinants of service quality. Therefore, the basic objective of the study is to identify important factors determining service quality of Indian Rail-ways platforms that lead to customer satisfaction.

Conclusion of Study:Determinants identified are availability and quality of refreshments, effective-ness of information systems, behavior of railway staff,basic amenities provided on platforms, and safety and security. Refreshments and behavioral factors are considered most important by passengers. These factors determine passenger satisfaction on railway platforms and may be dif-ferent from determinants of satisfaction with Indian Railways as a whole. The study thus provides a direction for railway administration whereby areas for improving services may be identified and user (passenger) satisfaction, spe-cifically on railway platforms, may be enhanced.

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PassengerSatisfaction

Safety & Security

Refreshments

Behavioral Factors

Basic Amenities

Information System

Factors which decide the Passenger/Traveller Satisfation

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Railway Vision Document 2020 - Mamta Banerjee

VISION 2020 will address five strategic national goals:- Inclusive development, both geographically and socially;- Strengthening national integration;- Large-scale generation of productive employment;- Environmental sustainability; and,- Reinventing Passenger Services.

Reinventing Passenger Services with “Change for Tommorow” as motto:The look and feel of Indian Railways in 2020 will be radically different from what it is today. Railways will eliminate shortage and meet the demand for rail travel in full. Passengers travelling long distance or short distance between cities or availing of our suburban services must find the journey on Indian Railways pleasant- fast, punctual, comfortable, clean, and, indeed, memora-ble. The Railway Stations and trains must set the highest standards of hygiene, sanitation, safety, security and hospitality and yet offer these services at af-fordable prices.Large, well-designed passenger concourses with adequate and high-quality waiting space easily accessible to platforms, conference halls, business cen-tres, retail shops, restaurants, entertainment and cultural facilities, museums and art galleries, and a variety of other attractions would make the passen-gers’ stay pleasant and memorable. In other words, these stations would go beyond being mere transport hubs. They would become vibrant centres of the life of the cities, for commerce, entertainment and social space.

Challenges Faced in Passenger Segment:a. Upgradation of Quality of ServicesIncreasing population, prosperity and urbanization combined with a favour-able demographic profile would continue to fuel the growth of passenger traf-fic across all segments. There would be a steady upward movement towards the premium classes. However, to reposition rail travel as a first choice option among passengers, including tourists, would call for a major make-over in the image of trains, stations and passenger services. A number of initiatives have already been taken to cater to this trend but there still is a large number of areas which would require close attention. These include: development of modern passenger stations and terminals, re-design of trains with pleasing, soothing colours and exteriors, plush interiors and green toilets, responsive expansion of supply to match demand, raising of speed, use of information technology to make the entire interface of passengers with the Railways a pleasant one and a systematic approach to provision of on-board services like catering, bed-roll supply, entertainment, information and guidance etc. Re-de-sign of second class coaches to make them more comfortable for passengers should also be a priority.Modernizing passenger information, enquiry and guidance systems at the sta-tions and its integration to real-time train running by use of intelligent techno-logical aids would be another important challenge.

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Passenger Services Vision:

By 2020, Railway’s passenger services would be transformed from a supply- constrained business to a state of availability on demand. Quality of services in terms of punctuality, safety, security, sanitation, cleanliness and amenities at stations and onboard, better experience, catering and other value- added services (pre-boarding and post -disembarkation) would be upgraded to match the best in the world. Access to railway services will also be improved by us-ing existing and innovative networks of distribution channels like internet, mobile telephones and other vending mechanism. Enquiry services would be transformed by using online data from train operations and emerging technologies of internet and mobile telephones. Speed of trains would beraised to 160-200 kmph on segregated passenger routes and work on a few selected corridors of high speed trains travelling at 250kmph to 300 kmph would be initiated. Special attention will be paid to meet the requirements of lady passengers, students and youth.

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Identifying the System

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Components Identified

Based on the Literature survey and on-field observations, various Compo-nents were analyzed in the next step.Some of them were:

1. Safety & Security,2. Food & Catering,3. Organizational structure,4. Ticketing System,5. Passenger Information System,6. Freight Transportation,7. Railways and environment8. Employment, etc

Railway System comprises of all the above mentioned and many more oth-er sub-systems. For proper functioning of all these sub-components various connections and inter-relations are established. Information flow amongst these systems is a must for overall working of these components.Based on the study “Determinants of Customer Satisfaction on Service Qual-ity”. A new Model was developed which stated that information system is a common system existing and effecting all the other systems in Railways.

Refreshments (Catering)

Behavioral Factors

Basic Amenities

Safety and Security

Passenger Satisfaction

INFORMATION SYSTEM

INFORMATION SYSTEM

A Revised Layout of the findings of the study

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The next step was to jolt down each stake holder Involved with Information:

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Secondary Research

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What is Public Information System? – Bo Swendgren, Sweden University

Orman defines public information systems as - systems designed for use by the general public, rather than specialists in a particular field or organization. The purpose of a public information system is to provide some kind of ser-vice or support to a public process, or process involving .the general public or society at large. In contrast, a non-public or private information system provides services to some rather specific users closely associated with a par-ticular organisation, performing some specific tasks that are often internal to the organisation, e.g. internal administrative processes.Who is the general public? Basically “the public” is a collective of people, e.g. the citizens of a society. We may broaden the concept to also include collectives of other actors, e.g. companies, especially small companies and organisations, which may often have needs vis-a-vis public authorities that are similar in nature to the needs of individual people. Thus, for example, both citizens and companies find themselves in situations where they have to perform a particular process (chain of tasks) vis-à-vis one or more authorities in order to obtain some kind of decision, e.g. a permit, a payment, etc.In addition, there are certain categories of professionals, who are often thought of as representatives or advocates of the general public and society at large, e.g. journalists, politicians, and researchers.

The actors involved in a public information system will usually belong to the following three categories:C: private persons and households/families in their roles as citizens, clients, customersB: business companies and other types of organisations, e.g. non-profit or-ganisationsG: government agencies and institutions on different levels (central, regional, local)

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Identify User Profiles in Information System with Unknown Users -Erik Axelsson, Karlstad University

Databases in public environments often record data and present information in text, image and video formats and are thus defined as image or multime-dia databases. The design of image or multimedia databases in public envi-ronment causes specific problems. The users in such a database system are often regarded as unknown. One reason is that the users in the system do not always exist at the moment of system design. Another reason is that the number of users is so great that it is impossible to communicate with all of them. In addition, in order to foresee a query to an image or multimedia da-tabase this involves both the intellectual and emotional side of the question and requires a detailed knowledge of the user requirements and the perspec-tive they may adopt with regard to the image. As a result, it is not reasonable to assume that the intention of the design procedure is to achieve an absolute one- to-one correspondence between the database model and the UoD.The database design process traditionally addresses the design problems using a three step process including conceptual, logical and physical mod-elling. The view modelling and integration presupposes that the users are known and possible to contact by one means or another. If this precondition is not fulfilled a new situationarises which requires a different approach to be adopted in order to design the image database model to mirror the requirements of the users. In this paper an approach is presented which is based on a combination of a tradi-tional database design method, the view modelling process, and Cooper’s

view regarding interaction design and semiotic findings. The semiotic triangle implies thatthere is never any direct relationship between an object and its representation or symbol. However, this does occur through the conceptions of an observer and every new interpretation is deemed to be a new conception. The maxi-mum number ofinterpretations is not possible to fix in advance (or probably never possible to deduce). However, the more conceptions or perspectives that have been re-vealed, the more complete the information is of the object. Nevertheless, there is probably not a one-to- one agreement between the model and the UoD and the implication is that it is unlikely for all the interpretations or perspectives to have been found. In the controversial method of Cooper [1999] the users are not involved in the design process. Instead, they are represented by an ar-chetypical user, called a persona. The persona is a hypothetical user and his/her goals and requirements are revealed by means of a data analysis gathered from interviews and observations.

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Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Report

Spatial Knowledge:

Level 1 The young child notices and remembers landmarks.

Level 2 As the child grows older, it learns routes and uses landmarks to go from point to point.

Level 3 The next stage is the development of “clusters” or “minimaps” not well related to the large-scale environment.

Level 4 Later still, differentiation of the self from the environment occurs—the conceptualization of outside features and boundaries independent of body position. This occurs in early adolescence.

Level 5 Formation of mental “survey maps” occurs inthe adult.

Children tend to pick salient but not necessarily relevant landmark cues; adults tend to select reference points at actual nodes or choice points. There is evidence that some older people may regress somewhat to an earlier point in the developmental cycle sketched above (i.e., they may move fromLevel 5 to Level 4 or 3 as they age). People with developmental or learning disabilities may never attain Level 4 or 5. Implications from this and similar

models for route guidance information are that reference points should be concrete objects such as landmarks rather than arbitrary locations. Thememory for objects is superior to the memory of abstractions. Map clutter—extraneous “nice to know” information—is a major factor in making mistakes in distance estimation or route planning; schematic maps that regularize the terrain and make it more grid-like are easier to recall.

Point of Reference and the Environment

The point of reference must be carefully considered in the design of any in-formation system for riders of a public transit system. The question must be asked and answered, “Where are the common points of reference for all users of this transit system?” Once the common points of reference are established, representation of the physical world and of the transit system in which they are embedded must be considered.

At least three aspects of the environment must besimulated:• Particular locations;• Distances between particular locations; and• Relationships among locations.

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Particular LocationsLocations should be labeled with respect to knowledge the rider already has or can be presumed to have. Labels must relate to the mental picture that the rider has formed of the city or district which they are attempting to traverse. One question is whether all possible locations that can be reachedfrom the present location (e.g., a bus stop) should be identified, or whether the location labels should be spaced. Often, place labels are meaningful to operators in the system, but have no such significance to users.

DistancesDistance between locations may be expressed in terms of time between lo-cations or cumulative time or in terms of space to be traversed (e.g., miles, blocks, or some other metric that describes the transit journey for the pas-senger).

RelationshipsThe rider or user must convert actual geographic direction into some oth-er represented direction. He or she is moving through three-dimensional space, but must conceptualize the space as a two-dimensional projection.

What Does the “Beginning” Rider Need to Know?Transit systems must know the information needs of the beginning rider, together with an idea of who that beginning rider is, in order to develop in-formation design. The beginning riders may be as follows:• Elderly,• Children,

• People of any age without a car in a strange town,• People curious to try a “new” mode of transportation,• People with disabilities or other disadvantages, and• People with little or no familiarity with English.A given begining rider may be anyone of these or a combination of several.

These diverse kinds of people have the following needs in common:1. “The primary need of all prospective riders is to be able to determine if transit provides a reasonable connection between a planned trip origin and destination.”2. Beginning riders need to have positive guidance in all aspects of route plan-ning and during the actual trip. The powerful concept of positive guidance, developed under the auspices of the FHWA for highway drivers, has applica-tion to transit as well. Translated into transit terms, positive guidance means giving the rider the maximum amount of visual information that is asfollows:• Useful;• Prioritized in importance;• Uniform, consistent, and without surprises; and• Easily visible under as many riding conditions aspossible.

What Does the “Experienced” Rider Need to Know?The experienced rider’s needs are not qualitatively different from those of the beginning rider, but are merely a smaller part of that same package. The true “commuter” who takes the same bus each day at the same time and place only

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needs the bus/route identifier, if the stop is a transfer point; nothing if the bus stop is serviced by only one route. The “commuter” is at one extreme of information needs; the beginning rider is at the other: he or she needs every-thing he or she can get. Riders familiar with the system, but going different places at various times and occasions, need most of the information the be-ginner needs, but are much more able to derive the route guidance they seek. In reference to specific route guidance information enumerated above, such riders have little need for the “lay of the land.” They usually have a good idea about the places and areas served by the system. They will, however, probably need to know how close the bus stop is to the destination, where are the node points, and when are they served. They may not need much information on waiting times, because they ride the system already, but trip times will be of interest. If they are going to new places on the system, they need to know node point names just as others do. All riders need vehicle identification/route numbers and status on the route (how soon do I get off?).

The Legible Transit SystemA legible transit system is a system in which a passenger can get from one point to another easily, without anxiety about getting lost, and without out-side assistance. One study defined it as “the ease with which parts of (the tran-sit system) can be reorganized and integrated into a coherent pattern”. The dilemma faced in designing route information is that of providing the pas-senger with all the information he or she needs to successfully complete the trip without overloading that rider with irrelevant detail. What constitutes “irrelevant detail” varies with the passenger and with the trip. A frequentpublic transit user, familiar with the city, needs little more than a list of stops

for each route in order to plan his or her trip, and will be frustrated with too much detail. A new or infrequent rider or a rider unfamiliar with the city needs more information: route locations, transfer points, arrival and de-parture times, and possibly a complete map of the city. In either case, route information that is hard to understand will confuse and frustrate a potential rider and encourage him or her to find some other source of transportation . Additional challenges face the rider who has visual disabilities, is non-En-glish-speaking, or has low reading ability. It appears that these are the audi-ences, or customer segments, for which passenger information aids should be designed—the people who may choose not to ride public transit because of their fear of getting lost or stranded. Any information services constitutea prosthesis for the lack of transparency of the transit system, because that system is complex.These information services must somehow build on the following:1. What people already know about the system (situation awareness),2. Representation of new information through signs and symbols,3. Locations and relationships among locations served by the transit system, and4. The uses of the information services to formulate plans and reach goals.

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Primary Research

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The Primary Research Was divided into three parts:

1. Data Collection

2. Analysis of Data

3. Identifying Areas to work on

Data Collection:

Tools and techniques used to collect data:

- On field Observation,- One to one interviews- Surveys

One to One conversation and interview:

An interview comprising of 50 people was taken. The method used to select the population was random selection on the railway platform which included males, females, elderly, children and Foreign nationals who were travelling and using the railway platform.Some of the key insights generated were :1. People want to know what the compulsory facilities available on the plat-form are.2. Visibility of electronic display from a distance is a problem.3. Announcement is not audible during rush hour.4. Platform 1 is always well equipped and rest of the platforms is neglected.5. My coach stopped at the end of the station and I cannot go far to fetch the necessities.6. I am always scared to get down on platform as train starts suddenly as soon as the horn blows.7. There is lot of chaos and randomness on station.8. I don’t know the time for which the train will stop on station.9. No identification of Genuine and fake vendors except the uniform colour which anyone can fake.10. No information about shortest route.11. Don’t know where to go, left or right, to buy food as soon as I step down from the train.12. No information about coolie charges.

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On Field Observations:

LOW VISIBILITY IN DAY LIGHT

VISIBILTY OF SIGNAGES RESTRICTED DUE TO AD-VERTISEMENTS BOARDS

INABILITY OF HUMAN EYE TO READ SMALL SIZED SIG-NAGES FROM A DISTANCE

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For Passengers on station

For Passengers in Train

Formal Sources Of Information in Railways

Ishikawa’s Scatter Diagram technique is used here to identify the major pain

points.Out of 11 services-

11 available to passenger on platform& only

5 available to passenger travelling in train

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Surveys:

Participants were made to listen to an audio recording and were shown a visual signage in order to reach a canteen available on platform. The experi-ment was repeated with 50 candidates. The question asked was to

Rate the best option out of the two.

The Information Sources were identified on station. A Pictorial album of each was made and shown to the participants so that they can relate. then they were asked to rate

How happy are they on a scale of 1-5, 5 being happiest about the following in-formation system.

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Scenario Building

Scenario I

• Amol is travelling to delhi via – Mumbai-Ahmedabad- Delhi route in A.C compartment.

• He is not carrying food with him.• He gets down at ahmedabad station to buy food.• His coach is standing at the end of platform.• He does not know for how much time the train will stop.• He asks a coolie about the food stall and stoppage time.• He runs to buy the food as the time of stoppage is less.• He buys the food and starts walking towards his compartment.• Suddenly the train honks and starts moving.• Amol panics and run to the nearest sleeper 2nd class coach and gets

inside.• He moves towards his compartment through train aisle.• On reaching A.C compartment he realizes that the connecting door is

closed.• Now he has to wait till next station to get down and reach his own com

partment.

Scenario II

• Amol is travelling to delhi via – Mumbai-Ahmedabad- Delhi route in A.C compartment.

• He is feeling uneasy and wants medicine for stomach ache.• He gets down at the station.• He starts looking for medical shop even though he is not sure about the

availability.• He asks a few people who confuse him further.• He cannot go far as the stoppage is less and he is feeling uneasy.• Suddenly the train Honks and starts moving.• Amol has to get onboard with the pain.• He then asks the fellow passengers for medicine and luckily gets it.

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Opportunity Areas / Areas to Work on

Based on all the primary and secondary research data and its synthesis,a few bottlenecks were identified which are hampering the proper function-ing of the Passenger Information System of Indian Railways.

• Working on the time management for the passengers travelling in train as the passenger on board lacks information about the stoppage time, platform information, amenities available.

• Working to make the amenities available on the platform within the reach/proximity of the passenger sitting in any of the compartments.

• To standardize the information about the services available on the plat-form across the country as the services in the current system are chaotic and randomly placed. ( barring a few like drinking water and charting board).

• It was observed that the information about the services available on plat-form to the passenger travelling in train is a huge loop hole which needs to be worked upon.

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WW

System Reworking Concepts

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Sr.no A B

1

2

3

1

2

3

1

Food – A2, Medicines – A3, Books – B2 And so on

CONCEPT I

The concept is inspired from the information system used by graphs, Charts, Grids & Matrix,etc. For example Microsoft excel uses Labeled Grids in or-der to tell the exact position or location of a particular information box. By using combinations like A1, L6 , etc a person can directly retrieve informa-tion without scanning the whole chart.A similar concept can also be used at railway stations where whole platform is considered as a grid and the service providers like, book stall, food ven-dors, medicine shops, etc can be treated as individual box in the grid.This grid can be repeated at a pre-decided fixed interval (which would be standardized across the nation) in order to reduce the distance to be cov-ered by passenger.

It can solve the following problems:• Exact location( his/her location and the stall location both) is now

knownto passenger.• It reduces mis-leading by others.• Time Consumption to scan through the crowded platform is reduced.• Passenger gets to know the services available on the platform at a single

glance.

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Concept II

How People Navigate : Wayfinding Methods

Whether walking through a building, driving in a city, or selecting routes on public transit, a traveler must develop a mental image of the surrounding environment, of his or her own location within the environment, and of his or her progression through the environment to the desired destination.Such knowledge is acquired in three basic stages:• In the first stage of wayfinding, a person identifies landmarks and begins

to orient himself or herself using these landmarks as references.• As landmark knowledge develops into route or procedural knowledge, a

person starts to build travel directions and decisions around the frame-work of landmarks and can visualize travel plans as a series of actions that will take him or her from an origin to a destination.

• Finally, with enough navigational experience in a particular environ-ment, a person will develop a mental picture, or “cognitive map,” of that environment, including knowledge of the landmarks, the routes from any one place to another, and approximate or relative distances between them. This survey knowledge allows the person to describe routes he or she may never have traveled, by defining them in terms of this cogni-tive map. Although survey knowledge can be developed eventually from route knowledge and real-world navigation through the environment, it can often be acquired more quickly from map study. A printed map of landmarks and the spatial relationships between them helps to form the cognitive map in a reader’s mind.

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What people need in order to navigate unfamiliar journeys through Transit:

Like any wayfinding experience, navigation through a transit system in-volves the preceding three stages: orientation via landmarks, development of route knowledge to travel between those landmarks, and, finally, survey knowledge of the transit system. Transit information aids must translate the many elements of a transit system—its geography, connections, operations, and rules—into a base of knowledge that will allow a rider to identify and make decisions about the routes, transfers, and boarding and disembarking locations that will deliver him or her to the correct destination. User-friendly transit information aids provide this information in a way that allows the rider to travel confidently and easily through the various segments of a trip.Ideally, passenger information should be available at every stage of the rider’s transit trip. Pre-trip information helps the rider to plan routes and connec-tions. In-transit information assists the rider at each decision point during the trip. Supportive/confirming information repeats and reinforces data and decisions and helps the rider to feel more confident that he or she is progress-ing toward the desired destination.

Pre-trip information needs consist of the following:• Location of the nearest stop,• Routes that travel to the desired destination and transfer locations,• Fare, and• Time of departure and approximate duration of the trip.

In-transit information needs consist of the following:• At the departure point—identification of the correct mode to take;• On the mode—identification of stops for transfers or disembarking;• At transfer points—how to transfer to another route; cost, time limits, and

restrictions; and identification of the correct mode to take; and• At the destination—area geography (i.e., location of the final destination

in relation to the current location) and return trip information (e.g., de-parture times and changes in route numbers).

Supportive/confirming information should be provided at any point during the trip when the rider may want to be reassured that he or she is progressing correctly and not getting lost. Repeated information at points throughout the trip provides this reassurance or confirmation.

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Designing an User Friendly Transit Information System

By reviewing the literature and observing behaviour of people using the Information Systems on the railway station, a list of 6 elements was derived. these elements states that if a new and effective Information system has to designed for a Railway Station or any other Public Transportation Facility, following elements are must without which the overall functioning of the system will get hampered.Riders learn to use transit information in the same way they learn many other skills. The following factors increase the likelihood of their learning the information:• Rehearsal, in the form of viewing transit maps and other information,

or by simply hearing about transit in the news and other media, re-moves some of the mystery of how a transit system works.

• Simplicity in transit information requires the use of common names and terms and references to known locations or directions to aid in orientation.

• Consistency must be maintained in information aids— names, codes, and formats must be consistent from sign to sign and from one type of information aid to another so that the rider encounters no surprises.

• Continuity allows the rider to build on initial information with data that confirm decisions and reiterate “next steps” in the trip. This can be provided by station signs, on-board route maps, and other information aids that help the rider progress from one step of the journey to the next.

• Repetition or redundancy (e.g., repeated formats, coding by shape and/or color, and consistent number/name) will help to reinforce trip and transit information in the mind of the rider.

• Sensory Stimulation allows rider to grab the information positively and at sub-conscious level.

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Six necessary elements of an User Friendly Information System

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TYPES OF TRANSIT INFORMATION AIDS

Transit information can be presented in various ways (e.g., oral instruction, printed maps, signage at bus stops or on buses, and other oral or written in-structions). Each type of aid has benefits and drawbacks. Although no single information aid can meet all of the information needs of transit passengers, a combination of information types will accommodate different learning styles, different levels of transit experience, and different stages of a rider’s transit trip.

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Information Aids What They Provide What They Don’t Provide

Oral Instruction(telephone instruc-tions, bus operator, other passengers)

• St r a i g ht for w ard and personalized information.

• Simplicity for new riders and those who have difficulty reading maps.

• Instant accessibility

• An overall picture of the transit sys-tem.

• Reference material for future or con-tinued travel.

• easy error correc-tion; exp if a rid-er misses a step in the process, his her frame of reference is lot unless he or she can converse further

Maps • Bird’s eye view of the transit system; relationship of landmarks, routes and connections.

• Flexibility for changing trip plans and modes during trip.

• Map reading pres-ents difficulties for many people.

• Risk of mismanage-ment if the physical map is damaged.

Signs • Information at de-cision points like terminals, transfer points, direction changing, etc.

• Supportive Infor-mation even for a person who is illit-erate.

• Detailed informa-tion and explana-tions.

• Portable informa-tion; no help during pre-planning or on-board.

Timetables • Portable informa-tion

• Detailed Route in-formation.

• No flexibility to change in real time unless it is a digital version.

• Some people face difficulties in read-ing timetables

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Learning

This document is a compilation of the work done as a part of System Design Project. The project is to understand existing Information System at the Railway Sta-tion and its components in order to identify the pain points and scope of improvement and to come up with solutions that can have a substantial impact. Various methods of qualitative and quantitative research were used in order to come up with meaningful Insights. Visits to places dealing with information flow were studied during the course of the project. This project helped me to step out of mundane ways of doing things. It helped me to understand how various sub systems interact within the system. The concept of Systemic, Systematic and System thinking was introduced in the beginning of the project which gave the direction to think throughout.The Core Learning that this course introduced was to unlearn the learnt and look beyond.

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Bibliography

• Thinking in system – Donnella H. Meadows• Determinants of Customer Satisfaction on service Quality: A study of Railway Platforms in India. – Geetika, Shefali Nandan, Motilal Nehru National Institute

of Technology.• Identify User Profiles in Information System with Unknown Users – Lars- Erik Axelsson, Dept. Of Information Systems, Karlstad University• Passenger Amenities of Indian Railways – Report by Dr. V. Vijay Durga Prasad• What is public Information System – Bo Sundgren, Department of Information Technology, Sweden University.• Indian Railways official website - www.indialrailways.gov.in• Railway Vision 2020 Report - Mamta Banerjee• Transit Cooperative Research Program official website - www.trb.org