Slow and Unsteady: Punctuality of Trains Drops to 73%

New Delhi: The punctuality of mail and express trains has decreased to 73% by mid-August of the current financial year, showing an 11% fall compared to the same period last year, the Times of India (TOI) reported.

The speed of freight trains also fell to 27.5 kmph, a reduction from the previous year's 32.4 kmph while the total freight loading saw a marginal 1% increase, reaching 558 million tonnes, the report said.

Railway officials attributed the decline to increased focus on maintenance of tracks and giving adequate blocks for carrying out new and maintenance works. "There is no compromise with regard to ensuring proper blocks for taking up any work on our network. The focus is on safety and asset maintenance. There is also strict adherence to respecting the stop signals," an official was quoted by TOI as saying.

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The main reasons for decreased punctuality are ‘asset failure and more construction works’, TOI reported. An assessment of railways' train operations and maintenance till the first week of August this year shows that there were 14 ‘consequential accidents’ compared to six during the same period last year, the report said.

Consequential rail accidents are those which cause loss of human life, injury, loss of railway property and interruption to rail traffic. The biggest consequential accident took place on June 2 at Bahanaga Bazar station in Balasore which claimed 294 lives and left over 1,000 injured, the TOI report said.

The performance details also show that track failures or defects increased by 10% and signal failures went up by 21% between April and mid-August, 2023, the report said. 

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