Bhubaneswar: A mobile and web application developed by a team from IIT Bhubaneswar aims to simplify train travel in India.
Students Rustam Kumar and Sangam Mishra, along with faculty members Dr Srikant Gollapudi and Dr Srinivas Pinisetty, have developed Simply-Swap – an app designed to facilitate seat swapping among train passengers.
It’s a common occurrence of a group of train passengers, friends or from the same family, facing the challenge of their reserved seats being located in different coaches or in different places of the same bogie.
Such passengers usually seek to change seats through direct requests to fellow-travellers but are not always successful.
Based on his personal experience vis-à-vis seat-swapping requests, Dr Srikant Gollapudi conceptualised an app that could facilitate seat-swapping among train passengers with negligible effort.
The application, developed by Rustam and Sangam with guidance from Dr Srikant and Dr Srinivas, allows registered users to post seat-swapping requests by entering their current seat details, desired seat or coach, and train information. Any other user travelling on the same train with a seat reservation in the specified coach can view the request and opt to accept the swap. Once a match is found, the app facilitates the swapping process, reducing the stress of manual coordination.
The IIT Bhubaneswar team believes Simply-Swap could significantly enhance passenger convenience and satisfaction, if the app is integrated into Indian Railways’ services.
The team is in talks with startups and venture capitalists for commercialisation of the app, having received encouraging response.
