There are areas in which Pakistan Railways has made some progress, such as the automation of systems in the department. Though all the planned automation projects could not be introduced for different reasons, change has been brought about by efficient use of the technology.

There is a Directorate of Information Technology (IT) that works on different initiatives to streamline things and make systems efficient by reducing human intervention. This also leads to transparency in working, end to corruption and facilitation to customers.

The introduction of e-ticketing system that supports online purchase of tickets by customers is a great relief for intending passengers. One can recall how people had to stand in long queues to buy a ticket. When their turn would come, they were told tickets of their choice had been sold out. The last resort for them would be to buy the same ticket at a higher rate from a coolie or Railways staffer.

Today, the Railways website provides details of available seats in trains. Customers can buy the tickets even for the return journey by marking the seats and making payments through different modes. The department has made an agreement with UBL Omni, Mobilink, Telenor, etc, to receive payments made by passengers against the tickets they have purchased online. A mobile application has also been developed to help users opting to buy tickets online, using their android phones.

An official of the IT directorate says IT professionals have been hired from the market and given the task of developing different softwares to support e-ticketing system. "There was no compromise on quality so the department outsourced this function to the best in this trade." He says an SMS alert service for passengers has been launched under which messages are delivered to the passengers once they have booked seats online. The directorate has made a mobile application to facilitate reservation using android phones.

Other initiatives include establishment of Disaster Recovery (DR) Site at PTCL Data Centre Lahore. In case of a disaster, e-ticketing services will automatically be started from DR Site where data backup facility is available. Besides, the concept of digital library has been introduced.

While there are beneficiaries of automation, there are people that are disturbed due to dependence on technology. For example, the biometric attendance system is being resisted by a large number of workers who are used to receiving salaries without attending office. May be this is the reason that biometric attendance could be introduced only at the headquarters.

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A train tracking and installation of video wall is in progress. This system would map the location of trains on real-time basis on the Railways track through GIS system. This will help passengers and commercial customers using cargo services to know the location and time of arrival of the trains. This would be helpful as uncertain timings of trains are major reason why people do not want to avail travel and transportation services of Pakistan Railways.