Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Tuesday launched the Project Management and Information System (PMIS) which would enable the railways to monitor online the progress of ongoing projects across the country.

"PMIS is a web-enabled IT application which would cover the entire life cycle of complex projects. It is a step in leveraging resources which would empower railways in transforming the way projects are designed, built and commissioned," a railway official said.

PMIS would use drone recordings and CCTV footage to monitor the projects.

Prabhu said PMIS would be helpful in implementing upcoming major railway projects on time and save money.

"The plan is to roll out PMIS to all the major projects across the country. It will help in online monitoring, mid course corrections to ensure faster execution of the projects. The railways will save crores of money if projects are implemented on or before time," Prabhu said.

He said the system would improve with time and that the information would be available to the public as well.

He said a system would be developed to grade employees on the basis of their performance.

"A system would be developed to reward those who perform well and punish the non-performers. PMIS will help in identifying the performance," he said.

Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha called PMIS a "game-changer".

"If we manage to reduce the project completion time it will be a game-changer for the railwaya. It will also give economic benefits to the railways," Sinha said.

PMIS is currently being implemented in the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramullah rail link as it has complex geological formation which requires extensive and continuous monitoring.