Development of web and android applications for management of railway data aggregation and analysis for Tanzania railway corporatio

Abstract

Railway transportation is one of the oldest forms of transportation that created links to populated and unpopulated parts of the world with railway tracks constructed through remote areas in earlier days. The ever-growing utilization of science and technology has been implemented in railway transportation to reduce travel time and increase passenger comfortability. African countries such as Tanzania acquired a railway network during the colonial era with the government performing few modifications to cater to evolving passengers’ needs. There are still setbacks in generating adequate information on how the railway sector progresses and how railway information is disseminated to the public. This study utilizes information technology and provides means for railway data collection, analysis, and information dissemination in Tanzania through the use of web and mobile applications. The study was conducted through the collection of data from Tanzania Railway Corporation (TRC) headquarters in Dar es Salaam intending to understand the overall performance of the railway sector in terms of data acquisition and information dissemination. The research looked into ways in which Tanzania differs from railway systems that are statistically improved with Great Britain being the casing point and found use of fewer railway attributes being collected and analyzed. This prompted the development of an improved railway information system which used mixed approach in data collection involving interviews with TRC staff, questionnaires distributed among passengers, and document reviews. From system requirements acquired, android and web applications were successfully developed which create a gateway to railway information, provide visual presentations of collected data from day-to-day railway operations, create up-to-date maps of the Tanzania railway network, and foster higher accuracy data collection.. The evaluation of the developed system showed great acceptance as a way forward for railway data capturing, analyzing and dissemination in the near future. Inclusion of GIS techniques proved to be of importance in creating awareness of Tanzania railway network to the public with participants having a higher percentage of agreement in the matter. In general acceptance, the system received more than 75% approval rating prompting more usage of railway data attributes as evaluation keypoint in railway transportation within Tanzania.