New Delhi: If the latest findings of a portal for Indian Railways train travellers (RailYatri) is to be believed, it seems the punctuality of trains is at worst in the regime of Railways Minister Piyush Goyal and Railways Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani.
According to the live train tracking data analysed by RailYatri, it has been found that in the first 15 days after the start of the foggy season this winter, the incidents of train delays would break records of the last 4 years.
"With the temperature in North India expected to dip further in coming days, the situation is not expected to improve anytime soon and the portal has issued a special advisory to all its travellers along with special alerts on trains most affected by the fog," the Rail Yatri said in its official statement.
"The national train delay index as measured by the portal this fog season in the last 15 days of December 2017 stands at 87 minutes with the worst of the typical fog days still to arrive in the northern part of the country," the portal stated.
In general, December 15 to January 15 considered as the peak fog season for rail travellers. The national train delay index of the last three years stands at 72 minutes during 2014-15, 47 minutes during 2015-16 and 96 minutes during 2016-17.
In reply to a question in Lok Sabha, Rail Minister Piyush Goyal had said that computerisation of the signalling system has led to fewer instances of trains running late than flights due to fog this year.
"Due to our constant efforts, fewer trains were running in late in comparison to flight during fogs," Goyal had claimed during Question Hour in the Lower House.