NEW DELHI: One of every four trains run by the Indian Railways in 2016 reached its destination late. And 70 per cent of the delays were due to capacity constraints and poor asset management by the government-run transporter.
An analysis of train punctuality by Indian Railways in 2016-17 shows that 1,34,847 of 5,78,552 trains suffered delays. The punctuality rate for mail/express trains for this period was lower than for 2015-16 as only 76.69 percent trains completed the journey on time, compared to 77.51 percent for the previous period.
Upset over poor punctuality, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu recently pulled up senior officials and asked
them to take all measures to ensure trains reach their destination in time.
It was found that of the 1.34 lakh trains that suffered loss of punctuality in 2016-17, more than 57,000—about 43 percent—were due to capacity constraints and about 30 percent on account of issues related to asset reliability, such as speed restriction due to maintenance and upgrade works related to tracks and signalling.
Asset maintenance is essential for safety and renewal of assets requires traffic hold up, says Mohammed Jamshed, Railway Board Member Traffic.
“Infrastructure augmentation of Indian Railways had been suffering for decades. Huge investment has now been tied up. The rate of addition of lines has increased from around 1,000 km per year to more than 2,800 km last year and an even a higher target has been set for the current year,” Jamshed says.