Lok Sabha Question No. 832 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-06-26
Subject: Late Running of Trains
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Vishnu Dayal Ram

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.832 TO BE ANSWERED ON 26.06.2019

## LATE RUNNING OF TRAINS

†832. SHRI VISHNU DAYAL RAM:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

(a) whether problem of trains running late has not been resolved despite sincere efforts of the Government;

(b) if so, the details of the action plan of the Government thereon;

- (c) the number of trains that started/ arrived late from its point of origin or destination, during the last three months and the number of days on which trains arrived late at destination points and the reasons therefor;
- (d)  the  extent to which Government has been successful to run trains on  time  even  in  adverse  conditions  when  there  was  mist  and  fog  and steps taken to streamline the signalling system; and
- (e)  the  steps  being  taken  by  the  Government in this regard to achieve complete success?

ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY (SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

(a) to (e)  A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.832 BY SHRI VISHNU DAYAL RAM TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 26.06.2019 REGARDING LATE RUNNING OF TRAINS

(a)  &  (b)  Punctuality  of  trains  is  accorded  high  priority  by  Indian  Railways. However, trains get delayed not only due to the factors related to its internal working but also external factors which are beyond the control of Railways. In  addition  to  asset  failures,  train  running  and  punctuality  is  affected  by factors  such  as  line  capacity,  terminal  capacity,  constraints  on  account  of inadequate infrastructure,  increasing passenger and freight traffic, adverse weather conditions (fog, rains, breaches), intermittent natural calamities such as  floods,  cyclones,  heavy  rains,  heavy  road  traffic  at  level  crossing  gates across  the  Indian  Railways  network,  law  &  order  problems,  miscreant activities  such  as  theft  of  Railway  assets,  mid-section  run  over  cases involving cattle and humans etc.

Punctuality  of  passenger  carrying  trains  including  Mail/Express  and Superfast trains is being monitored rigorously on a daily basis at Divisional, Zonal  and  Railway  Board  levels  by  Divisional  Railway  Managers  (DRMs), General Managers (GMs) and Railway Board Members and Senior officers. To ensure running of these trains right time when pairing trains are running late,  scratch rakes are inducted and rakes are standardized to the extent operationally  feasible.  Also  various  steps  have  been  initiated  to  improve punctuality  such  as  prioritization  of  preventive  maintenance  of  assets  to minimize asset failures, capacity enhancement projects by construction of additional loop lines at stations, doubling, construction of third line corridors,  automatic  signaling,  construction  of  limited  height  subways  to replace level crossings, Road Under Bridges (RUB) and Road Over Bridges (ROB) etc. Besides, punctuality drives are launched from time to time and staff involved in train operations are sensitized. In addition, Zonal Railways have  also  been  advised  to  have  better  coordination  with  Civil  and  Police authorities  of  States  to  deal  with  situations  arising  out  of  law  and  order problems. Due to these interventions, number of minutes lost in passenger and express trains have decreased from 3672043 and 2730830 in March 2018 to 2504263 and 1345067 in March 2019.

## (c) Mail/Express trains started/arrived late during the last three months is as under:-

| Months   |   No. of trains started late from origin per day (Avg.) |   No. of trains arrived late at destination per day (Avg.) |
|----------|---------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------|
| March-19 |                                                     269 |                                                        389 |
| April-19 |                                                     296 |                                                        628 |
| May-19   |                                                     334 |                                                        517 |

(d) and (e) For running trains during adverse conditions of mist and fog, a Global Positioning System (GPS) based hand held portable device named Fog PASS Device has been developed by Indian Railways.  This device is not  installed  on  locomotive  as  such  but  is  given  to  Loco  Pilots  in  fog affected sections.   It serves as an aid for the crew during foggy weather through  audio  visual  alarm,  whenever  any  landmark  comes  within  the Geofence  range.    Location  of  stations,  warning  board,  signals,  level crossing gates and Whistle for Level crossing (W/L) boards in the section is fed  in  the  equipment.    It  displays  speed  of  the  locomotive,  distance  and time to reach landmarks and is carried by the Loco Pilots.

Fog PASS Devices are being used only in those zones of Indian Railways where the trains pass through fog affected region.  Till April, 2019, 11689 Fog Pass Devices have been procured and provided to Zonal Railways.

To  avoid  delay  of  trains  in  foggy  weather  and  to  enhance  level  of safety  when  running  in  automatic  block  signaling  sections,  a  modified automatic signaling system has been introduced in Northern Railway and North Central Railway which restricts the number of trains to two between two stations.

Further, Railways are implementing the provision of Automatic Train Protection  (ATP)  system  in  selected  sections.  These  systems  have  the facility  of  displaying  movement authority in front of the Loco Pilot in the cab. This helps Loco Pilot to run the train confidently even during impaired visibility.  The types of ATP systems working are:-

- (i) Train Protection and Warning  System:  Train Protection and Warning  System  (TPWS)  based  on  European  Technology  ETCS Level -1, a proven Automatic Train Protection (ATP) System has been provided on 345 RKMs on Indian Railways.
- (ii) Auxiliary Warning System (AWS): An ATP called Auxiliary Warning System  (AWS)  is  presently        functional  on  413  RKMs  in  the Mumbai  suburban  section  of  Central  Railway  (289  RKMs)  and Western Railway (124 RKMs).
- (iii) Train Collision Avoidance System (TCAS): TCAS is an Automatic Train Protection (ATP) System installed on Lingampalli Vikarabad - Wadi, Vikarabad - Bidar section (250 RKMs) on South Central Railway.

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