This solution is for the ticketing system computerisation for Syrian Railways General Est. (SRGE). There are 81 stations and 19 other booking offices which on an average issue up to 2,000 tickets per day.

The basic operations handled by the system are reserved and unreserved ticketing. The system is designed to work in client server architecture. The client systems used are thin clients with an embedded operating system. These client systems can work both in the stand-alone and network mode.

The software can be broadly classified into four different modules, namely,

	Administration module
	Ticketing module
	Communication module
	Auditing module

All the client systems (in LAN) get connected to the central server installed in the zonal headquarters. The central server (a high-end-server) generates all kinds of MIS-related reports pertaining to daily, periodic and monthly updates.

The area of focus during the design of the system is to make the system a very secure one as the data generated by the system is of utmost importance. The data generated pertains to the cash collected in the counter, the system level operational data, the reservation status data, etc.

Data (fare data, train related data, station level data, concessions, surcharges) change at the station level is bound to happen. A remote programming and monitoring facility is provided to ease the implementation of data change in the counter system.

Scope of work
The scope of the work is implementing a total ticketing solution for Syrian Railways. The points that come under the scope of work are:

	System requirement study and customisation of software
	Testing of the system off-line and on-line in Syria before implementation
	Implementation in two phases
	System maintenance and support for a period of two years (warranty period)
	User training

List of deliverables

ARTS is a comprehensive state of art solution for railways to automate their ticketing operations. The system is basically built on a client-server-based architecture. The system has two main components namely the counter system (client) and central server, apart from other communication components to make it operational.

The counter system is an intelligent special purpose-ticketing terminal, with capabilities of issuing all types of journey and non-journey tickets for passengers. Independent transaction-wise reports can be generated from each of these counter systems. All the counter systems are networked in a station through LAN. Passengers can book or cancel tickets from any counter. This feature achieves a real universal counter operation without compromising security in any manner. The counter systems are connected to the central server using either a dial-up or leased line. In addition to generating various accounting reports, the central server also has the capability of monitoring the client systems and programming the client's systems with software and data updates as and when required.

The major points considered during the design and development stage of this application:

	High security
	Centralised administration
	Ease of maintenance
	Ease of installation with control from central server
	Quick implementation of business logic
	User-friendlier interface
	Interfaces to future needs like smart card, scanners etc

Administration

	User management
	Event management
	Stock management

Ticketing
Ticketing is the most important and necessary function of the ARTS system. Ticketing can be classified in two major components, namely

	Reservation module
	Un-reservation module

Reservation
Allocation of seats and berths for long distance passengers and train composition management are the two main activities of this module.

The GUI provided in the system helps the operator in selecting the seat according to the choice of the passenger taking the train number, class, source station and destination station code as input. The system checks for availability of seats on the central server and then allocates it to the passenger. The algorithm used in the allocation of seats is; allocate minimum available seats to be filled first to avoid splitting of large parties at a later point.

The train composition module handles the basic train definition module taking the number of seats in each bogie depending upon the class and the bogie layout. This module basically fits into the server application. The server sends the information to the counter system to enable reservation. This module also handles the provision of RAC, WL, etc.

The reservation module works in both the stand-alone and network mode. In case of the stand-alone mode, the system will allocate seats based on the allowed quota, which is station dependent and already available in the counter system. The moment the system switches back to the network mode, the counter system will update the central server and will work in an on-line mode.

Un-reservation
This module handles ticketing that does not allocate a seat / berth. This module handles the issue of season tickets, platform tickets, miscellaneous tickets, etc. The system can operate in the stand-alone mode without connecting to the central server. However, the system will require the connectivity for transferring data to the central server at the end of day or shift.

Cancellation
Cancellation is process in which the system registers the ticket as invalid and will internally declare the seat / berth as open. An additional fee, 'cancellation fee', is charged depending upon certain rules and regulations. The various methods of cancellation are:

	Normal cancellation
	Partial cancellation
	Special cancellation
	Non-issue
	Across counter cancellation
	Across shift cancellation
	Across station cancellation

Anywhere to anywhere ticketing
The counter system has a provision of issuing tickets from any source station to any destination depending upon the data available in the database. The system will also be able to issue seats and berths for tickets under this option depending upon the network to the central server.

In a stand-alone mode, the system will be able to allot seats / berths only for the ticket issue station. However the system will be able to issue unreserved tickets from any source to any destination.

Language printing
The counter system will print the following information in Arabic, French and English on the ticket.

	Source station name and destination station name
	Class type
	Fare
	Date of journey

Time-off
A facility of soft log out for the operator to take a short time off is also provided. The operator is expected to select the time-off option. The system will internally create a temporary log out. The system will also register this event in the event log file for auditing purposes. The operator can re-login by using his ID card. This facility is provided to avoid unauthorised usage of the system in the absence of the operator.

The ARTS system handles various types of transactions supporting various types of trains with different classes.

Auditing

Administration
Apart from the normal user login and other administration activities, the administrative module also handles system maintenance like regular backup, recovery, etc.

Report generation
The system generates various types of reports, train-wise, zone-wise and station-wise.

Remote management
Remote management is one of the key features of the ARTS system. The two major modules of this feature are:

	Remote monitoring
	Remote programming

Security provided in counter system
Security is one of the major criteria considered during the design and development of the entire system. We considered security at different levels, namely:

	Operating system level
	Data storage level
	Application level

Security provided in the central server
The central servers installed an the railway headquarters require the maximum security as all data pertaining to all the stations are stored here. Security features on server are categorised in different levels, namely;

	Operating system level
	Application level
	Database level
	All the hardware and software proposed are year 2000 compliant
	All hardware and software proposed are ISO 9001 certified.