The North Central Railway (NCR) Zone has been urged by the Railway Board to increase the punctuality of trains that originate from or travel through it. NCR, which has long had a sterling reputation for keeping trains on time, has recently recorded low punctuality performance as some trains have failed to keep to their scheduled running times.
The Railway Board informed the Senior Chief Operations Manager of NCR in a communication that it had been noticed that NCR’s punctuality performance was on the decline. “Board desires that NCR should take corrective measures for punctual running of trains, closely monitor punctual running of mail express trains from point to point, control assets failures and improve rectification time of failures, so that punctuality losses are minimised,” it added.
Ongoing infrastructure work
The smooth operation of trains has been disrupted, said Anand Swaroop, Divisional Railway Manager for the NCR-administered Agra division. He blamed ongoing infrastructure maintenance for the same.
When asked to comment on the email from the Board, Swaroop stated that the division was engaged in a significant amount of infrastructure work.
That is only a passing phase that will end very soon because the construction is almost done. Once all the projects are finished, we will demonstrate a more impressive timeliness record, said Himanshu Shekhar Upadhyay, Chief Public Relations Officer, NCR.
The NCR zone includes three divisions, Prayagraj, Jhansi, and Agra. In March 2022, the zone’s punctuality rate of 93.20 per cent was the highest among the nation’s 17 railway zones.
(With inputs from PTI)