Railways registers worst punctuality in three yrs

New Delhi: With Railways registering worst punctuality performance in the last three years, it seems the tall claims of Rail Minister Piyush Goyal to improve train timings have fallen flat. According to official data, almost 30 per cent of trains ran late in the financial year 2017-18.

According to the data, the punctuality of mail and express trains was 71.39 per cent from April 2017-March 2018, which is down from 76.69 per cent in the corresponding period of 2016-2017. The Railways registered a deterioration of 5.30 per cent in the punctuality performance. In 2015-2016, 77.44 per cent trains ran on time.

However, the Railway officials, while defending the 'delay', has said that punctuality of trains is affected by ongoing massive maintenance work being undertaken by the railways.

Earlier, Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal had informed the Parliament that ongoing maintenance work of tracks was affecting punctuality performance.

"Punctuality is very important but the government has taken a conscious decision to prioritise safety over other aspects. A lot of the railway infrastructure required upgradation as some of these have over the past several decades outlived their life. The old lines were being refurbished and record track renewal was underway," Goyal had informed the Parliament in December.

In 2016-2017, railways put in over 15 lakh maintenance blocks in 2,687 locations resulting in delays in both mail and express trains. The number of blocks rose to 18 lakh in 2017-2018 with maintenance work being carried out in 4,426 locations.

Indian Railways is undergoing a phase where upgrading, modernisation and renewal of track is going on in a big way. Due to this, there is a sharp decline in the number of accidents in the recent past.

Sources in the ministry said that railways employees have been clearly told to give as many blocks as they can for carrying out maintenance work.

The data also shows that the number of accidents in Indian Railways fell to two-digit figures for the first time in 35 years in the last fiscal.

During the last three years, the number of consequential train accidents has decreased from 135 in 2014-15 to 107 in 2015-16 and further to 104 in 2016-17. In the last fiscal, the number of consequential train accidents further reduced to 73.

Sources in the ministry said that Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani has taken note of the delays occurring across zones and in a message to zonal railway officials said that such delays cause "embarrassment" to the railways.

"He has said that regular delays are causing serious embarrassment and has ordered a 15-day drive to pull up punctuality figures," the source said, adding that a meeting with zonal railways on punctuality would be conducted soon. Highlighting the delay in trains, passengers have taken to social media on many occasions, posting pictures and sharing anecdotes about their experience.