In another significant step towards making innovative progress, Indian Railways collaborates with the Indian School of Business (ISB) for establishing Centre of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics on South Central Railway on 12th November, 2020. As part of it, Shri Gajanan Mallya, General Manager, SCR has handed over the LoA to Shri Milind Sohoni, Deputy Dean, Indian School of Business, Hyderabad at Rail Nilayam, Secunderabad in the presence (through virtual means) of Shri Vinod Kumar Yadav, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Railway Board.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Vinod Kumar Yadav, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Railway Board stated that the establishment of Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics is a very important step forward in the transformation of Indian Railways. Indian Railways has already digitized almost all of its systems like passenger reservations, freight operations, material management, stores procurement and human resource development etc. It is essential that all the data gathered is analyzed for betterment of customer services and to provision of better services to the both Passenger and Freight customers. Indian Railways is looking forward to use the Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics in partnership of ISB for innovative solutions on this front.
Shri Gajanan Mallya, General Manager, SCR in his address, stated that with the continuous importance being given for the Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence all-round, it is the right time for the establishment of a Centre of Excellence with collaboration of ISB. He said that these new technologies have become vital tools to make the organizations more effective by optimal utilization of its resources to meet both Customer and Organizational goals.
Shri Milind Sohoni, Deputy Dean, ISB, Hyderabad stated that the opportunity to work with Indian Railways and South Central Railway in particular is a great experience. ISB would like to bring in new thoughts, Business Knowledge and expertise to partner the Indian Railways in its transformation journey. The vast data generated by the Railways will be used for strengthening the Railways through the application of Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics.
- Indian Railways is an organization with track length of around 96, 000 kilometres, Indian Railway (IR) carried 1.27 billion tonnes of freight and 8.6 billion passengers during the last financial year (2019-20) making it the world’s largest passenger carrier and fourth largest freight carrier.
- From an operational analytics standpoint, it generates a vast quantity of data.
- This data can be used by IR to derive accurate, contextual, and actionable insights for its business.
About the collaboration:
- This collaboration with ISB for establishing Centre of Excellence for AI & DA at SCR is for 12 months during which projects will be under taken for improving operational efficiency.
- The training modules will include cloud computing, Data science, Big Data Analytics, AI using reinforced learning and various other techniques to be used for forecasting and prediction.
- ISB will further help in identifying the best global practices in AI&DA for adoption on IR.
- ISB has been roped in as a partner to help identifying areas for improving operational efficiency and enhancing customer experience through application of Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics.
Benefits:
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Analytics (DA) technology can help IR to enhance customer engagement, allowing IR to deliver on customers’ growing expectations-predicting, pre-empting and resolving faster and better than ever.
- Demand data (seasonal/local) captured in IR system can help predict future demand pattern and also help in optimal utilization of resources and cost control by weeding out the ineffective/inefficient resources.
Source: South Central Railway-Press Release
