CHAPTER ONE

1.0     INTRODUCTION

Transport is very important necessity of life, people have to travel or move from place to place, city to city and country to country. So there is need for effective means of transportation. Railway Stations have become so important to modern society that a large number of them are found all over the world for both domestic and international operations. E-payment of railway booking system deals with the day to day activities of passengers and goods travelling within the state. In solving a wide range of procedural problems as related to railways, for any system analyst to create a computerized system of any setup it shall constitute a great problem that require careful observation, evaluation and assessment of the problem theory itself. Efficiency in any professional field is characterized by the ability to obtain required data or information within a short period of time, the reliability of data or information obtain and also the time it takes to effectively process them, every professional organization need fast and reliable tools in order to be effectively competitive in its field. The expression e-payment booking system is normally used in a broad sense to refer to the entire activities relating to the developments of application platform for the passengers traveling within the state. As the case may be various attempts are being made by railways, Non-Governmental organization to solve the problems of e-payment for railway booking system and better results are being obtained from these attempts.

This project work is targeted on the same line as those attempts made and it shall include the following

                            ·            Pay online

                            ·            Check traveling time and prices for destination

                            ·            Upload passport for verification

                            ·            Views terms and condition

1.1    Background of the Study

Rail transport in Nigeria: Nigerian Railway Corporation

Railways in Nigeria are operated by the Nigerian Railway Corporation. As of 2003, Nigeria's poorly maintained rail system had 3,557 kilometers of 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge track. The country has two major rail lines: one connects Lagos on the Bight of Benin and Nguru in the northern state of Yobe; the other connects Port Harcourt in the Niger Delta and Maiduguri in the northeastern state of Borno.

In recent years, the railway network has progressively fallen into a state of disrepair. As of early 2013, the only operational segment of Nigeria's rail network is between Lagos and Kano. Passenger trains take 31 hours to complete the journey at an average speed of 45 km/h

In order to remedy the poor condition, efficiency, and profitability of the nation’s railroads, the government is seeking to privatize the Nigerian Railway Corporation. Under the privatization plan, the railways will be split into three concessions, each to be awarded for a period of 25-30 years

Years of neglect of both the rolling stock and the right-of-way have seriously reduced the capacity and utility of the system. Couplings of the chopper kind, vacuum brakes and non-roller bearing plain axles are also obsolete. A project to restore Nigeria's railways has been underway since 2009

In 2006, the government contracted with the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation to build the Lagos-Kano Standard Gauge Railway. It was later decided to complete the project in segments due to a lack of funds. After many delays, the segment from Abuja to Kaduna is expected to begin operations in May 2016 Other segments have not yet begun construction.

A project is also underway to construct the Abuja Light Rail, but the project has also faced delays.

There are no railway links with adjacent countries. There were plans to establish rail links to Niger through Illela in Sokoto state and Cameroon, but these have not yet been built.

1.2    STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Due to the fact that the existing system is based on manual processing, were records and information are being stored in papers, files, and register. It has several limitations which include:-

i.                    There are undue delays in scheduling for transport ticket.

ii.                  It is liable to errors in processing passenger’s transport ticket

iii.                Considering the materials used in the manual process, it increase cost to the railway authority

iv.                Conjunction of rail travelers (passengers) in the railway station.

v.                  Environmental factors such as rain and fire outbreak normally result in the destruction

vi.                Lack of effective security measures which leads to loss of data or information been retrieved by unauthorized user.

1.3    AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The E-payment of Railway Transportation System (ERTS) is a software application to assist a railway with transactions related to making ticket reservations, which includes blocking, reserving, cancelling and rescheduling tickets.

1.      Minimize repetitive work done by the system administrator and reservation clerks.

2.       Maintain customer information in case of emergency, e.g. trip cancellation due to inclement weather. The profile can also be used by the railway company to track user preferences and travel patterns to serve them better, plan routes, for better marketing and efficient scheduling of trips.

3.       Increase awareness among frequent travelers about various special offers and discounts.

4.      Minimize the number of vacant seats on a trip and maximize trip capacity utilization.

The main objective of this research work is to develop an e-payment application system for transport booking in       railway station which eradicates problems associated with the current booking procedures in the railway station. Objectives includes:-

i.                    To analyze the most economical way of booking for Transport ticket.

ii.                  To develop a system that can be used to book for transport within shortest possible time.

iii.                To develop a system with a user friendly interface, with navigation tools, which will be available to end users either individual or public anywhere any time.

1.4     SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

It is worthy of note that when this project work is completely embraced and implanted, it will go a long way in doing the following the manual cannot do;

                                i.            Reducing the number or volume of papers used during the traditional process.

                              ii.            Increasing the rate of conducting Appraisal Test

                            iii.            Providing facility for data security

                            iv.            Reducing the cost incurred when conduction of Appraisal Test is done traditionally

                              v.            Reducing the time used during the process.

1.5    SCOPE OF THE STUDY

As mentioned earlier, the importance of transportation in every country (develop, under-develop or developing) cannot be over-emphasized. Considering the current security challenges in our country today one can observe that many travelers especially those in the middle class prefers traveling by rail to that of roads or other available means. This trend has put up the facts that certain measures are needed to be taken to ensure free, easy and continent movement of people and goods using the railways. Known to all the current operations of railways in the country today are compounded with many problems.

The significance of this research work is to rectify the problems associated with travel booking in Nigeria railway station.

1.6    DEFINITION OF TERMS  

i.                    E-Payment:  is an electronic payment where by Customer’s account will be debited and Railways account with Bank will be credited online.

ii.                  Booking:- is the process whereby a person pay certain amount of money for a sit from particular place of take off to their destination

iii.                Railway Transportation: - this is the means of transportation that uses train to transport goods and passenger from one place to another. In other word Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails.

iv.                The term System is refer to a set of rules that governs structure or behavior. This term is used to describe the set of rules that govern railway structure and behavior.

v.                  Ticket: is collected at a Railway Station (Loading Point) where a
Customer (Individual or Corporate) books some goods for transporting to
another Station (Destination) through Railway.

vi.                Railway Station: - this is a transportation center where a train stop and takeoff.

vii.              Passport:- it is an official identity certifying the holder’s reorganization

viii.            Terms and condition: - these are set of rule governing the booking and reservation system of the railway station.

ix.                Train scheduling system: - this software assists the Railway Station authority in scheduling the takeoff and arriving of train in the station.

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