Suvidha Trains for Railway Commuters and Measures to Improve Punctuality
Indian Railways ran 333 Suvidha trains during 01.07.2015 to 30.11.2015 on various routes. The average punctuality, (right time arrival at destination) of these trains during the above period was 60%.
Like other Mail/Express trains, the reasons for loss of punctuality of some of Suvidha trains have been related to Railways internal working as well as external factors of which Railways are not in control of.
Other than asset failures, various constraints /difficulties which resulted in late running of these trains were line capacity constraints on account of increasing passenger and freight traffic, accidents, planned blocks for executing capacity enhancement works & construction of low height subways, ROBs, RUBs, etc., 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, multi faceted law and order problems, including public agitations and bandh calls in left wing extremism affected and other areas, miscreant activities such as theft of Railway assets, mid-section run over cases involving cattle and humans, etc.
Railways have initiated various measures aimed at improving punctuality of trains over Indian Railways network, including Suvidha trains by sensitization of staff involved in train operations, controlling asset failures and their down-time, prioritization of preventive maintenance of assets etc. State Governments are being pursued for more effective resolution of law and order related problems.
To ease congestion, high priority is also being accorded to making resources available for speedy execution of capacity augmentation works on Railways. The consequent de-congestion of highly saturated routes will enhance systemic capability to run trains more punctually
This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.
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