Finals Laboratory (Case Study)

Ticket Booking System for China High-Speed Railway

Case Descriptions
China High-Speed Railway (CHSR), with longer than 7000 km railway lines, carries about 350 millions of
passengers in 2011 according to the official statistics. A trustable CHSR online ticket booking system is
under consideration. This facility is given to general public by national railway department. With the help
of this facility people can book their tickets through Internet, sitting in their home by a single click of the
mouse. Using their credit card/debit card, people can easily get their tickets done within minutes.
The current ticket booking system uses a traditional counter booking method. The reservation counters
are there at the high-speed railway stations from where people can get the tickets to their respective
destinations.
Nowadays there are various ticket counters, apart from high-speed railway station counters where tickets
are available. The proposed system is based on Web and comparatively faster than the existing system.
There will be very less rush and shorter queues at the reservation counters or centres. In the proposed
system, we are also making database for all the high-speed trains running across the country. As
required, we can edit the database of the trains and also add the new high-speed trains which will be
proposed in future budgets.
The main objectives of the project are:
1. The acquisition and maintenance of a relational database with the help of hardware,
communication network and software including system design.
2. To assess the system if system chosen in the project operates in an adequately controlled
environment.
3. Whether the applications controls are adequate and if the system is in compliance with rules.
4. Adequate security from possibilities of fraud.
5. To show an effective mechanism to ensure most economic usage of available resources.
6. The control mechanism for credit card/debit card transactions were adequate
The scope of project included evaluation of the application and was primarily concerned with the
transactions related to booking of tickets from the terminals operated by the railway personnel.
Application controls, simulation and online enquiries were used to evaluate data validation and program
logic. The selected data, as made available, for substantive checking of the completeness, integrity and
consistency of data using computer assisted applications such as Java, Microsoft SQL Server or MySQL
and Structured Query Language (SQL).
CHSR is huge. There are umpteen numbers of distributed databases in its system. The use of Microsoft
SQL Server or MySQL and Java enables the person at the booking counter a customised and easy
retrieval of information. Any changed booking information should be updated immediately in the
distributed databases to ensure consistency and integrity of the system.
An online ticketing database allows the users of the CSHR Reservation System to track the whereabouts
of their travel. The passengers who need to know whether they are in waiting list or confirmed need not
travel to the ticket counter or call the CHSR service system. With the help of an online system they can
show the information in a click. In case of cancellation, the online system instantly credits the amount
from the passengers account. It updates the changes instantly, thus, the user working on the database
will not have to go to each database and make the changes.
The booking administrator module only can add, modify and delete the train details. It contains Train
Name, Train No, Source, Destination, Departure Time, Arrival Time, Total Seats, Kilometres, General
Seats (second class A and B), First Class Seats, Routes and Timings.
The Ticket Booking is user (Employee of Railway Dept.) side module. The user can book the ticket using
this module. The user should follow the steps for the ticket booking. First you should select the Source

and Destination. Next, you should select the Date. While the date textbox got focus, the calendar will
display. By clicking the calendar, the date will be selected. And you cant select the yesterday and before
date. Select the Quota (General or First Class). Click the Find button to find the trains which are available.
If you select the First Class Quota and the date is day after tomorrow in the sense, you cant book the
ticket for First Class Quota for that day. The First Class Quota will enable only today and tomorrow. After
clicking the find button, the available train list will be displayed in the flexgrid. By clicking the train number
or train name in the flex grid, the Route button enabled. By clicking the route button, the corresponding
train route, timings, and distance. By clicking the class column to the corresponding train whichever you
want to travel, then Book button will enable. Click the Book button to enter the Name, Age, Sex and
Platform. After Enter the details, Click the Proceed Button. The frame will display the overall details like
Source, Destination, Travel Date, Booked Date, Total Members, Quota and Total Fare. Click the Confirm
Button to confirm the details. Then only the Booking details will be stored and Ticket Number will be
generated.
The Ticket Cancelling is also user (Employee of Railway Dept.) side module. The user can cancel the
ticket using this module. The user should follow the steps for the ticket Cancel. Enter the Ticket Number in
the Textbox and Click Find. It will show the details like Train No., Train Name, Booked Date, Travel Date,
Source, Destination, Class, Quota, Total Fare, Distance in the Frame.
It also shows the passenger names, Age, Sex, Platform, Class, Fare and status in the flex grid. Click the
Name in the flex grid which you want to cancel and where the status is Booked.
Click the Cancel Button to cancel the ticket.
The Report Module is also user (Employee of Railway Dept.) side Module. The user can take two types of
reports by giving the Ticket Number: Booked Tickets or Cancelled Tickets.

Further evolution
The ticket booking system can be evolved by adding the following functionalities:
1. Android or iPhone based mobile user modules to facilitate mobile ticket booking.
2. The functionality to avoid losing of booking information due to Internet/website congestion.
3. More security measures to be taken to prevent any internet frauds.
4. Online help module to help users in using of the system.