Indian Railways goes from bad to worse over last 3 years on this critical score; passengers suffer

The financial year 2017-18 has been the worst for Indian Railways in terms of performance, especially punctuality. According to official data, almost 30 per cent of trains were reported to have been late in the financial year 2017-18. The punctuality of mail and express trains was 71.39 per cent from April 2017-March 2018, down by  5.30 per cent from 76.69 per cent in the corresponding period of 2016-2017.  In 2015-2016, 77.44 per cent trains ran on time.

According to Indian Railways officials, the punctuality of the trains suffered severely because of the maintenance work undertaken by the PSU. Indian Railways has put in over 15 lakh maintenance blocks in 2,687 locations in 2016-2017.  This has resulted in delay of both mail and express trains. With maintenance work being carried out in 4,426 locations, the number of blocks rose to 18 lakh in 2017-2018. 

Notably, even as Indian Railways is upgrading its infrastructure and service in its modernisation drive, including renewing track, a significant decline in number of accidents has been recorded.  "We are also making efforts to improve punctuality of trains without compromising safety and upgrading of tracks, Rajesh Dutt Bajpai, Director (Media and Communication), Ministry of Railways, said. This is for the first time in the last 35 years that the number of accidents in Indian Railways fell to two-digit figures, as per official data.

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During the last three years, the number of consequential train accidents has decreased from 135 in 2014-15 to 107 in 2015-16 and further to 104 in 2016-17. In the last fiscal, the number of consequential train accidents further reduced to 73, DNA reported.