Piyush Goyal cracks whip against Indian Railways officials, says stop fudging data

Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal has warned Indian Railways zones to stop data manipulation to show improvement in punctuality, indicating that punctuality figures provided by zones varied from passengers' feedback.

The national transporter had released figures that showed 76 per cent trains were running on time, as compared to an average 60 per cent all through. 

In a letter to the zonal heads, the Railway Board last week warned against such fudging of data.

"Wrong feeding of arrival/departure of trains at terminals and interchange points continues to be adopted by zonal railways and divisions falsify records to improve punctuality.

"Feedback from general public through social media is continuously being received on daily basis. MR (Minister of Railways) has expressed his serious displeasure and directed that the practice must stop forthwith. Please ensure strict compliance to avoid any unpleasant situation," it said.

Punctuality performance of mail/express trains during the period from September 17 to September 23 showed that the Ranchi division in the South Eastern Railway had achieved 100 per cent punctuality and 21 divisions had recorded punctuality of 90 per cent and above during the period.

This is a major improvement from the average 60 per cent punctuality being maintained just two months back.

In the new time table, the railways has set a target of achieving 95 per cent punctuality.