GUWAHATI: Rangiya Division of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has chosen to go paperless, as far as goods business is concerned, with effect from August 1, 2019, by rolling out eT-RR (Electronic Transmission of Railway Receipt) by replacing RR.
RR (Railway Receipt) is a vital document, in the entire chain of freight business of Railways. It is like an acknowledgement of receipt of goods for transportation by rail. The owner of original Railway Receipt is supposed to be the owner of the goods.
In the earlier system, the printed RR once generated used to be given to rail customer who loaded the consignment (consignor) after completing loading in goods train and after paying all railway freight charges. The consignor in turn, had to further transfer it to the consignee, who would take delivery of goods at destination, through post or courier. At the destination station, delivery of consignment was given on surrender of original RR by customer.
In the earlier system, the customer used to face the problem of delay in taking delivery, whenever the goods train reaches destination earlier than the original RR. The new system of transmission of RR electronically, eliminates this problem entirely.
The new system introduced is a very simple; hassle free and user friendly system which would immensely benefit freight customers. In this system, the Railway Receipt (RR), a mandatory document, for effecting delivery of goods, is generated, transmitted and surrendered or deposited electronically.
The first eT-RR of Rangia Division has been generated on 01.08.2019 from Indian Oil Siding at New Bongaigaon for goods loaded to destination NTPC plant at Unchahar in Uttar Pradesh. System of generating eT-RR has been enabled in all the 18 functioning locations of freight business on the Division. The entire process is carried through FOIS portal (https://www.fois.indianrail.gov.in). In order to avail this facility, customers (both consignors and consignees) have to pre-register themselves at the nearest Railway Division, where they carry out their business. On doing so, each customer organization would get a Global Customer Code. The customers can register themselves at FOIS portal after getting the Global Customer Code and can avail the facility of eT-RR. All the consignors of Rangiya Division have already registered themselves in FOIS portal to avail the facility of eT-RR. At least 09 consignees have registered themselves for eT-RR and many more have approached the Division whose registration is under process and are at various stage.
The eT-RR system is also very secure, because at every step from generation to transmission to surrender of RR, electronic authentication is required through user IDs, passwords and through unique system generated Freight Number Record (FNR) and One Time Passwords (OTPs). The system generated FNR number and OTPs is sent only to registered e-mail IDs and mobile numbers of customers.
It may be mentioned here that, railway has already introduced the system of placement of demand for wagons electronically (e-RD module) through FOIS portal. Along with the e-RD module, eT-RR makes freight business for customers more accessible and transparent. Moreover, the electronic transfer of RR is not only faster but also safer. Since there is no physical transfer of RR, it eliminates the problem of loss of RR in transit.
Electronic Transmission of Railway Receipt (eT-RR) and (e-RD module) are definitely going to be a game changer as far as freight business of Railways is concerned as it provides a safer, faster, transparent and more convenient paperless system for all segments of freight customers apart from boosting the Digital India Initiatives.