Introduction

             

The Ceylon Government Railway, also known as the Sri Lanka Railway Department, was established in 1858 to transport coffee, gradually transporting goods including tea, coconut, and rubber, and today it extends to passenger transport. Railway service is one of the main services of the Government of Ceylon. This provides a great service to the government. The Railway Department is a busy institution and it manages over 350 train runs per day. Today many local and foreign tourists use the train as a mode of transport for their travels. Also, commuters use the train for their daily activities.

Currently, there are mobile phone software available to track train times in Sri Lanka. For example, RDMNS.LK, Sri Lankan Train Schedule, Train Sri Lanka. But there is a manual method to buy tickets. As a result, train passengers, as well as the Railway department, have to face various problems. For example, having to wait in long queues to buy tickets, traveling without tickets, facing train strikes, having trouble when checking tickets, and facing problems when storing information in the system. As a solution, it would be more appropriate to introduce a train ticketing system in Sri Lanka. At present, there is no proper method to find a solution to the above problems. If a passenger can get everything they need on the train using a mobile or a web application, it will be useful to passengers as well as the Railway Department.

Most train tracking software creates an account for the user. It is very important for the security of the application, the Railway Department, and the user. Users can create an account on the application by providing the required details. After completing the registration process, the user will be able to access the application using a user name and a password. It increases the security of the application and also confirms the user identity.

Cloud computing is a way to access information and applications over the Internet instead of having to build, manage, and maintain them on your own hard drive or server. It is fast, efficient, and secure. If cloud computing is deployed to the Railway department, it will be more efficient in reducing their workload. User information used by the app is automatically stored in a database, user information is protected from other parties and no additional effort is required to enter the data into the database, which is very convenient and secure.

The Department of Railways currently has the ability to reserve seats. If a passenger wants to reserve one or more seats, they can do so at the ticket reservation counter or through the m-ticketing service or Dialog ticketing service by sending an SMS. But they cannot reserve a seat of their choice. it will be more inconvenient for the passengers.

The seat reserving function is creating for avoiding those problems. If they are given the opportunity to reserve a seat that completed the requirements and preferences of the passenger it will convenient to the passenger. This method is enhancing user-friendliness compared to the currently existing systems (Mihirangaet al., 2021). Also, passengers are given the opportunity to purchase normal tickets for classes 2 and 3.

QR-code is a type of matrix barcode that is a machine-readable optical label that can contain information about the item to which it is attached. This system also issues a QR-code, after booking or purchasing a ticket, the passenger will receive a digital ticket with a unique code.

A QR-code scanning method is very useful for the application because they can show the QR-code and get permission from the ticket checker to enter the train. The ticket checker checks the passenger’s digital ticket using a QR-code scanner.

The chatbot is a computer program designed to simulate conversation with a human user, especially over the internet. It is like a live agent. We proposed it for our application because people can solve problems related to the railway ticket and seat reservation process by using the chatbot method. It responds to the users’ questions on time, so even users can make timely decisions.

The cancellation method must need an application. some passengers may need to cancel the reservation for some reason. This app provides that opportunity to the passenger and they can cancel their reservation through the app. 75% of the amount is refunded when they inform their cancellation before 24hours.