Railway commuters across India will be able to easily access information on train fares, routes, lodging and boarding during transit, train fares and other information related to Indian Railways network. This information is loaded on Multi-Media Information Kiosks (MIKs) installed at various railway stations on the Western Railway route. The information loaded on the MIK is available in English, Hindi, Gujarati and Marathi.

The MIK, designed and manufactured by Tarini Interactive Systems Private Limited, provides up-to-date organised data for passengers through a feather touch screen based operation. A traveler on Indian Railways will now have easy access to interactive national and suburban railway time tables covering around 10,000 railway stations, for every category of passenger trains, along with their respective fare charts, rules and regulations, facilities and passenger amenities proved at every station and railway zonal information. The MIK is designed to provide comprehensive city information including famous and interesting tourist spots, maps and other related details. These kiosks are provided free of cost to the railways and regular railway travellers across the nation.

The first MIK manufactured by Tarini was installed at Vadodara railway station on October 15, 1999 and was inaugurated by the then Chairman of the Railway Board, V K Agarwal. The other kiosks have been set up at Churchgate, Mumbai Central, Andheri, Goregaon, Bandra, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Ratlam, Ajmer, Sarai, Kota, Delhi and other railway stations. The company will generate revenue from advertisements on the MIK. E-commerce and online ticketing will be the main source of revenue in the near future for Tarini. The MIKs are designed to be smart card enabled, and use the latest multi broadcast web technology.

Passengers stand to gain from the MIK as the information is provided in a clear format with organised and updated data. The information is dispensed on demand and instead of standing in long serpentine queues and being at the mercy of the personnel sitting at the counter, it is easy and quick to access the MIK.

In Mumbai, Director (Technology) Amar Shah and Director (Marketing) Dilip Chhabria, are promoting the MIK and are currently planning to instal MIKs at some of the key railway stations on the Central Railway suburban route.

Author's Name: Mani D'Mello
Photographer's Name: Vinayak Prabhu

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