In a major digital initiative to help plan traffic flows and optimise freight operations, the MoR launched the Smart Freight Operation Optimisation and Real Time Information (SFOORTI) application for freight managers, which provides features for monitoring and managing freight businesses using geographic information system views and dashboard. Further, the MoR launched a new online vendor registration system, with public access to information, expeditious process completion with defined timelines, simplification of procedures, and round-the-year services being some of the key features of the new system. Currently, the Research Designs and Standards Organisation has invited expressions of interest for over 600 items and has kept the window open with no timelines stipulated, to enable wider participation of industries and interested vendors in developing products and new technologies for Indian Railways (IR).
Another digital initiative has been the introduction of modern optical character recognition (OCR) kiosk machines for quick and easy printing of tickets booked through the UTS app on mobile phones by suburban commuters. In the first phase, 25 OCR kiosks have been planned for installation by Western Railway, of which 20 kiosks have already been installed at five Mumbai suburban stations – Churchgate (one kiosk), Dadar (six kiosks), Bandra (three kiosks), Andheri (five kiosks) and Borivali (five kiosks). Besides, the installation of another five OCR kiosks at Churchgate is currently under way and will be completed soon.