Rlys punctuality at its lowest ebb in 3 years

| | New Delhi

The massive maintenance work of tracks undertaken by the Indian Railways has affected its punctuality with almost one-third of the trains running late in 2017-18 and clocking worst performance in the last three years.

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

To discuss the situation, Railways Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani has convened a meeting of top officials of all zonal railways next week.

A senior railway official said that the Indian Railways is currently undergoing a phase where upgrading, modernisation and renewal of tracks are going on in a big way. “Due to this, there is a sharp decline in the number of accidents in the recent past. We are also making efforts to improve punctuality of trains without compromising safety and upgrading of tracks,” said Rajesh Bajpai, Director (Media and Communication), the Ministry of Railways.

In 2016-2017, the 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.

Data also shows that the number of accidents in the Indian Railways fell to two-digit figures for the first time in 35 years in the last fiscal. A series of accidents had led to replacement of Suresh Prabhu by Piyush Goyal. Before that it took the scalp of Chairman Railway Board (CRB) AK Mital who was on an extension. The current CRB Ashwani Lohani was brought in August 2017. He announced that safety would be given priority. 

Lohani has taken note of the delays occurring across zones and in a message to zonal railway officials on Friday 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,” said a railway official.

During the last three years, the number of 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 accidents further reduced to 73.