IRCTC Has Not Been Hacked

IRCTC, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited, has denied news reports that its data had been hacked. 

IRCTC PRO Sandip Dutta said: “There has been no hacking attempt on the site. A high-level committee has been formed to probe the matter.”

Earlier, there were reports that the Maharashtra cyber cell has informed IRCTC, India’s largest e-commerce websites and prime platform for booking railway tickets, about a potential data theft.

Any data theft or hack at IRCTC.co.in could result in the leak of critical information of lakhs of users who book tickets on the site. And given the sheer size of IRCTC, it could be the biggest data theft ever in India’s history.

Source: Indian Express

Enjoy Free Public Wi-Fi Service By Railtel And Google At Ten Indian Railway Stations

Indian Railway’s arm Railtel which provides Internet services as RailWire via its extensive fiber network along with Google today announced the launch of free high-speed public Wi-Fi service at nine new railway stations. 

After the first launch at Mumbai Central, starting today users in Pune, Bhubaneshwar, Bhopal, Ranchi, Raipur, Vijayawada, Kacheguda (Hyderabad), Ernakulum Jn (Kochi) and Vishakhapatnam will be able to access the network using their smartphones for free. 

The service built over the fiber network of Raitel is designed to offer high speed broadband experience to users. Travelers passing through these stations will now be able to easily stream a high definition video while they’re waiting, research their destination, download a book or a new game for their journey. Google is committed to work with Indian Railways and Railtel to deliver high-speed Wi-Fi network that will be available to 10 million Indians a day by the end of the year, covering 100 of the busiest train stations in India. The project will be eventually rolled out to cover 400 train stations across India.  

An app for Railway Medical emergencies

While travelling by train, a worry for passengers is whether there will be any medical assistance available at any point. An app called 'RailYatri' has been introduced, which will help a person locate all medical facilities near their location while travelling.

According to sources, Details like the hospital name, contact numbers and the distance from the existing station to the hospital can be gotten via the app. The location of where the user is vital that determines the details provided. The app is not just limited to hospital names, but to provide direction from station to the hospital, contact numbers of hospitals and ambulance services.

Indian Railway Schedules Now On Google Transit

Indian Railways schedules will now be available on Google Transit, a feature on Google Maps.

The current update will allow access to information for 12,000 trains, as well as updated details for bus and metro routes from Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi and Pune.

"Google Transit is part of our effort to make Google Maps more comprehensive, accurate and useful for millions of people around the world who take buses, trains, metros or trams to their next destination," Google Maps director, program management, Suren Ruhela said. "We hope that the addition of the Indian Railways schedules pan-India and updated information for eight cities to Google Transit in India will make it a little easier to plan your next trip," he added.

Google Maps as of now has public transportation schedules for more than one million transit stops worldwide in 2,800 cities, including New York, London, Tokyo and Sydney.

Since 2005, Google has collaborated with hundreds of public transit agencies worldwide to make their schedule information accessible to all Google Maps users.