China Railway Express

Growth on the Fast Track
As China’s market economy develops, logistic companies see express parcel delivery via passenger trains as a key business development area. China Railway Express (CRE), a subsidiary of the Ministry of Railways (MOR), wanted to capitalize on this growth while strengthening its leadership position in the industry. For this, CRE needed to improve information sharing and freight tracking across its entire national network.

Working with Sybase and Turbolinux, CRE deployed the National Logistics Information Platform, a highly efficient information management solution used in more than 400 parcel operations, 230 railway stations and all 18 bureaus of the MOR.

Sybase and the MOR share a history of collaboration. The two organizations have worked together on a national Railway Passenger Reservation and Ticketing System and a Railway Passenger Sales Analysis System.

“Sybase and China Ministry of Railways have partnered successfully for several years, building up a rich, shared experience,” said Raymond Yu, vice president of Sybase China. “We are building on this foundation to enable a value-added service that will meet the needs of express parcel and freight customers across the country.”

Delivering Critical Data Anytime, Anywhere
Sybase conducted extensive research on user and systems requirements before designing a three-layer solution that parallels the organization’s structure, including data centers, district centers and parcel operations. The core system runs over the MOR’s intranet while the customer shipment tracking application can be accessed over the Internet.

The platform is built on Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE), Replication Server, and mobile and workstation database SQL Anywhere from Sybase iAnywhere.

ASE provides the foundation for all three layers of the platform. ASE is highly scalable with robust parallel processing capabilities, making it the ideal solution to handle the platform’s enormous data volume and user inquiry traffic. And its support for a multitude of security mechanisms helps safeguard operations.

Using the ASE and Turbolinux High Availability (HA) options, CRE provides a high-availability cluster system on a Linux platform. When a certain node on the cluster is defective because of software or hardware, the cluster can use the resources switchover method to ensure the normal external services of the whole system. That means CRE can be sure its critical business applications are available 24x7.

The data centers deploy Sybase Replication Server to allow real-time synchronization of data between the production transaction processing systems and back-up systems, which also support inquiry tasks to relieve production system workload. In addition, the SQL Anywhere extends the application to mobile logistics business operations and representative offices.

Stability, Security and Reliability
Today, stations using the National Logistics Information Platform account for 95 percent of the total freight volume in China’s railway system. The Sybase-powered solution offers full process tracking, decision support for express logistics management as well as online shipment tracking services. And the MOR can now integrate information from heterogeneous environments that had existed between local and regional levels—increasing operational efficiency and improving decision-making across the organization.

“The National Logistics Information Platform involves a huge volume of data and requires fast processing, complex network architecture and real-time capabilities,” said Zhang Boju, information manager of China Railway Express. “Sybase’s powerful database software can fully meet these requirements, and we have full confidence that its stability, security and reliability will result in stable operations and profitability.”