NEW DELHI: Indian Railways has achieved an overall train punctuality rate of over 77% across all zones during 2025-26. Only three out of the 18 operational zones recorded punctuality levels exceeding 90%. More than half a dozen other zones maintained punctuality between 77% and 90% in train operations, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told the Rajya Sabha on Friday.
Punctuality has been impacted by several factors, including foggy weather, path constraints, asset maintenance, and other issues such as alarm chain pulling, agitations and cattle run-overs. Despite these challenges, the Railways said only 1.3% of trains were delayed by more than three hours during 2025-26 compared to 1.4% in 2024–25.
“To improve punctuality, Railways undertakes rationalisation of timetables. One such exercise was carried out with the assistance of IIT Mumbai using their traffic simulator. The exercise aimed at providing fixed integrated maintenance blocks on all sections to minimise detention and improve punctuality,” Vaishnaw said in reply to a question from MP MB Wasnik.
According to official data, the Railways operate nearly 25,000 trains per day, including suburban and freight services across various routes. However, key routes like Delhi-Howrah and Mumbai-Howrah remain highly congested, among other routes, which affects the punctual running of trains.
To address this, the ministry has increased the capacity of the existing rail network over the past 11 years. Between 2014 and 2025, 34,428 km of new tracks were commissioned at an average rate of 8.6 km per day, compared to the pre-2014 average of 4.9 km per day.
The minister said, “To ensure regular, continuous and real-time monitoring of punctuality of trains, technological tools and IT systems have been put in place.” He said the Railways is also using the Modified Semi-Automatic Stop Signal (MASS) system during abnormal conditions like fog impairing visibility.
Key routes congested
According to official data, the Railways operates nearly 25,000 trains per day, including suburban and freight services across various routes. However, key routes like Delhi-Howrah and Mumbai-Howrah remain highly congested, among other routes, which affect the punctual running of trains.