Indian railways receiving daily report from 16 Zones -Punctuality percentage Improved.

Indian railways receiving daily report from 16 Zones -Punctuality percentage Improved.

NEW DELHI: Under fire from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for trains running late, the Indian Railways in the last one month improved train punctuality from 72 to 78 percent and as a result saved 17,000 precious minutes of the passengers.

The prime minister in March has sought explanation from Railways over late running of train after several MPs have complained about it. The railways have been receiving daily report – a first for the railways -- from all 16 zonal railways about punctuality of trains in the region.

The latest punctuality analysis of over 7000 passenger trains by traffic directorate shows that it improved from 72 percent to 78 percent in last one month and saved 17,000 minutes in terms of time.

It was found that North Central Railway (Allahabad) performed worst with 40 percent punctuality against the benchmark of over 80 percent. Northern Railways (New Delhi) and East Central Railway (Hajipur) also top the list of biggest defaulter with punctuality below 60 percent.   

Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha, who has been personally keeping a tab on the punctuality figures, said that punctuality of trains is a key focus area of the railways and all zones have been given targets to improve punctuality percentage.           

“We have issued orders to Allahabad zone to improve their punctuality by 10 percent keeping in mind the constraints and congestion on the route connecting Bihar, northeast and West Bengal. We are keeping everyday information about punctuality of trains and it will improve further in days to come,” Sinha told Express.

The railways has also found that there are cases of incorrect reporting of train timings which are being done by manually feeding wrong information about the movement of trains in the central coaching operations information system. But now system has been put in place that train delayed over 30 minutes will automatically get registered in the system and none cab fudge the punctuality figures.

The minister said that it has also been decided to change train timetable of trains which have been running late for over six hours on regular basis for last two years. The time table will now show the delayed timing for the convenience of passenger.

According to traffic directorate, there are several reasons for late running including signal malfunction, rolling stock breakdown, overhead equipment failure which contributes decline in punctuality rate.

Railways in a letter to all zonal railways warned officers of wrong reporting of the figures and said punishment for it will be suspension and inter-zonal transfer and other disciplinary action against officers even zonal chief passenger traffic officer.