Lok Sabha Question No. 112 (STARRED), answered on 2018-07-25
Subject: Punctuality of Trains
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: C. MAHENDRAN, HARISH CHANDRA MEENA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 112 TO BE ANSWERED ON 25.07.2018

## PUNCTUALITY OF TRAINS

*112. SHRI C. MAHENDRAN: SHRI HARISH MEENA:

Will the Minister of  RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  the  Government  has  taken  cognizance  of  passenger  trains running  very  late  in  the  country,  if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the percentage of trains that were late during 2017-18 and the average delay noticed during the last six months, zone-wise;
- (b) the reasons noticed for late running of the passenger trains;
- (c)  whether  stopping  of  trains  at  outer  signals  due  to  non-availability  of vacant  platforms  at  railway  stations  is  also  a  major  reason  for  delay  of passenger trains and if so, the details thereof;
- (d)  whether  the  Government  proposes  to  monitor  platforms  properly  for timely operations of passenger trains and if so, the details thereof; and
- (e)  whether  the  Railways  have  recently  extended  the  arrival  time  of  185 trains to address the punctuality issue and if so, the details and the results achieved as a result thereof along with the other steps taken/proposed to be taken to ensure punctuality of all trains?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COAL, FINANCE AND CORPORATE AFFAIRS (SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

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

****

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF STARRED QUESTION NO. 112 BY  SHRI C. MAHENDRAN AND SHRI HARISH MEENA TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 25.07.2018 REGARDING PUNCTUALITY OF TRAINS

- (a) Yes, Madam. The zone-wise percentage of trains which were delayed during 2017-18 and the average delay noticed during the last six months, zone-wise, is as under :-

| Zone-wise percentage of trains delayed during the Financial Year 2017-18   | Zone-wise percentage of trains delayed during the Financial Year 2017-18   | Zone-wise percentage of trains delayed during the Financial Year 2017-18   |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Zonal Railway                                                              | Mail/Express                                                               | Passenger                                                                  |
| Central                                                                    | 10                                                                         | 26                                                                         |
| East Coast                                                                 | 27                                                                         | 34                                                                         |
| East Central                                                               | 41                                                                         | 62                                                                         |
| Eastern                                                                    | 18                                                                         | 17                                                                         |
| Konkan                                                                     | 25                                                                         | 10                                                                         |
| North Central                                                              | 47                                                                         | 59                                                                         |
| North Eastern                                                              | 27                                                                         | 35                                                                         |
| Northeast Frontier                                                         | 19                                                                         | 09                                                                         |
| Northern                                                                   | 35                                                                         | 46                                                                         |
| North Western                                                              | 12                                                                         | 08                                                                         |
| South Central                                                              | 09                                                                         | 15                                                                         |
| South East Central                                                         | 20                                                                         | 05                                                                         |
| South Eastern                                                              | 09                                                                         | 03                                                                         |
| Southern                                                                   | 19                                                                         | 17                                                                         |
| South Western                                                              | 10                                                                         | 04                                                                         |
| West Central                                                               | 15                                                                         | 22                                                                         |
| Western                                                                    | 09                                                                         | 09                                                                         |

| Zone-wise details of average delay (in minutes) of all trains run during last 6 months (Jan. to June 2018)   | Zone-wise details of average delay (in minutes) of all trains run during last 6 months (Jan. to June 2018)   | Zone-wise details of average delay (in minutes) of all trains run during last 6 months (Jan. to June 2018)   |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Zonal Railway                                                                                                | Mail/Express                                                                                                 | Passenger                                                                                                    |
| Central                                                                                                      | 32                                                                                                           | 29                                                                                                           |
| East Coast                                                                                                   | 42                                                                                                           | 29                                                                                                           |
| East Central                                                                                                 | 148                                                                                                          | 105                                                                                                          |
| Eastern                                                                                                      | 113                                                                                                          | 22                                                                                                           |
| Konkan                                                                                                       | 17                                                                                                           | 30                                                                                                           |
| North Central                                                                                                | 117                                                                                                          | 92                                                                                                           |
| North Eastern                                                                                                | 133                                                                                                          | 73                                                                                                           |
| Northeast Frontier                                                                                           | 95                                                                                                           | 22                                                                                                           |

| Northern           |   118 |   50 |
|--------------------|-------|------|
| North Western      |    58 |   13 |
| South Central      |    20 |   23 |
| South East Central |    60 |   09 |
| South Eastern      |    42 |   09 |
| Southern           |    26 |   11 |
| South Western      |    29 |   10 |
| West Central       |    40 |   44 |
| Western            |    31 |   09 |

(b) For maintenance of assets and infrastructure augmentation, 18,90,403  block  hours  have  been  given  during  the  year  2017-  2018  as against 15,91,258 block hours during 2016- 2017, which is 2,99,145 (18.8%) more block hours as compared to the previous year which affected train running  and  caused  loss  of  punctuality.  Further,  during  the  last  several months, a large number of safety related track maintenance works have been  undertaken  for  which  a  number  of  speed  restrictions  have  been imposed which led to drop in punctuality of trains over Indian Railways.

Indian Railways carried out renewal of 4405 Kms old track in 2017-18 as against 2597 Kms in 2016-17 i.e about 70% more than previous year. Highest ever track renewal work of 642 Kms carried out in March 2018 as against earlier best of 576 Kms in January 2018.

Earlier,  manual  system  of  data  entry  in  control  office  application was used for recording arrival and departure time of trains.  Now Indian Railways  have  started  capturing  data  from  data  loggers    which  are installed  at  72  critical  points  in  the  network.    This  has  reduced  the possibility of inadvertent error in data entry to great extent.

Trains have also got delayed due to various reasons such as asset failures related to Locomotives, Over Head Electrical Equipment Failures, Track Failures, Signal Failures, Mechanical Failures etc., besides Law and Order  problems-  observance  of  Bandhs  and  security  threats  in  sensitive areas requiring reduction of speeds for maintaining the safety of operations,  adverse  weather  conditions  (fog,  rains,  breaches),  public agitations,  natural  calamities  such  as  floods,  cyclones,  heavy  rains, electricity  grid  failures,  miscreant  activities  such  as  theft  of  Railway

assets, cattle run over, heavy road traffic at level crossing gates etc. (c)  and (d)  The platforms for trains at major terminals are nominated as per  platform  berthing  charts.    Scheduled  platform  berthing  of  trains  gets disturbed  due  to  late  running  of  certain  trains  on  account  of  various reasons resulting in detention to other trains at signals for non availability of platforms. (e)  The  arrival  time  of  185  trains  has  been  altered  at  the  destination stations  as  a  temporary  measure  on  Northern  Railway  and  Southern Railway to cater to time for maintenance works on their Railway which has marginally improved punctuality. Steps being taken to improve punctuality include: (i) Rigorous monitoring at Divisional, Zonal and Railway Board levels. (ii) Standardization  of  rakes  and  provision  of  spare  rakes  to  improve punctuality. (iii) Removal of infrastructure bottlenecks in a planned manner. (iv) Integrated  Mega  Blocks  are  planned  in  such  a  way  that  all  asset maintenance departments can do their work simultaneously. (v) End to end running of some trains with diesel locomotives to avoid detention on account of loco changing from diesel to electric. (vi) Replacement  of  conventional  passenger  trains  with  MEMU  rakes gradually. (vii) Conversion  of  conventional  rakes  of  Mail/Express  trains  (Integral Coach Factory rakes) into LHB (Linke Hofmann Busch) rakes. (viii) Rationalization  of  Time  Table  in  order  to  make  a  group  of  similar speed trains. (ix) Curtailment of stoppage time at major terminals. (x) Fencing along the track in Allahabad division in the most cattle run over prone area.

(xi) Commissioning of 1 st   phase of Dedicated Freight Corridor. (xii) Allahabad -Mughalsarai 3 rd  line work sanctioned (153 Kms.) (xiii) High capacity water pumps  at watering stations to minimize detention on this account. (xiv) Provision of Bye-pass stations to avoid engine reversal etc. *****