Is your Indian Railways train on time? Is the train arriving on time, departing on time? Indian Railways has often been criticised for late train services and the national transporter is taking several measures to step up the punctuality of trains across zones. According to Piyush Goyal, Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry, the Indian Railways considers punctuality to be of high priority. In a written reply to Lok Sabha, Goyal said that despite the internal factors, there are several external factors that can cause a delay and are beyond the control of the department. According to him, the punctuality of trains is affected by asset failures, terminal capacity, line capacity, and other constraints on the back of inadequate infrastructure, freight traffic and increasing passenger.

Moreover, adverse weather conditions like fog, rains, and breaches, too impact the train-running process. Further, intermittent natural calamities like floods, heavy rains, law & order problems, thefts and mid-section run over cases can also impact train functions. The government has been working on measures on its part to make sure that there is no delay in trains.

Indian Railways eyes punctual trains: 10 major steps

  • The punctuality of trains is being rigorously monitored at multiple levels – Railway Board, divisional and zonal levels.
  • The train rakes are being standardised and spare rakes are also being provided to help improve punctuality.
  • The Ministry of Railway is also working towards removing all infrastructure bottlenecks in a proper and planned manner.
  • For simultaneous work within asset maintenance departments, integrated mega blocks are planned.
  • Some trains are being run with end-to-end diesel locomotives. This will avoid any kind of detention that might occur from changing diesel to electric.
  • Indian Railways is also converting rakes of Express or Mail trains into Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) rakes from ICF rakes.
  • Time tables are also rationalised so that similar speed trains are in one group.
  • Stopping time at major terminals is also being reduced.
  • Bye-pass stations will be provided in order to avoid reversing the engine.
  • Data-loggers help attain accuracy as they capture the arrival and departure time of trains in an error-free manner.
  • For better time management, the Ministry is also upgrading Indian Railway Signalling assets continuously where installed Modern Signalling System ensures timely operation of Passenger trains.