Over 90% Punctuality in 24 Divisions of Indian Railways in this Fiscal So Far; 19 Divisions Record 80–90% Punctuality
Over 90% Punctuality in 24 Divisions of Indian Railways in this Fiscal So Far; 19 Divisions Record 80–90% Punctuality
The punctuality of train services is measured on terminating basis and expressed in terms of the percentage of trains arriving at the destination station within specified time limit after the scheduled arrival time of the train.
Monitoring of Punctuality:
Punctuality is accorded high priority on Indian Railways (IR). IR makes all possible efforts to run trains on time. To ensure regular, continuous and real-time monitoring of punctuality of trains, technological tools and IT systems have been put in place.
(a) GPS based FOG SAFE DEVICE – A Global Positioning System (GPS) based portable ‘Fog Safe Device’ (FSD) is being provided to Loco Pilots, which displays upcoming critical landmarks such as approaching signal, level crossing gates, permanent speed restrictions etc. in advance during poor visibility conditions like fog. This device is used for safe train operation especially during winter season and to help reduce stress on Loco Pilots while running in poor visibility conditions. As on 31.01.2026, there are 29848 Fog Safe devices available over Indian Railways.
(b) Modified Semi-Automatic Stop Signal (MASS) System: MASS has been introduced on the Automatic Signalling territory during abnormal conditions like Fog & Bad Weather impairing visibility. The system helps minimise delay in train operation during foggy weather conditions.
Train operation during fog and poor visibility conditions is an essential component of the training curriculum and the same has already been incorporated in the Transportation Module and Technical Module of the prescribed training syllabus for Loco Pilots (LPs) and Assistant Loco Pilots (ALPs).
पंक्चुअलिटी को इंप्रूव करने के लिए अलग-अलग अप्रोचेज हैं। पहला- बहुत सारे टेक्निकल टूल्स लगाए गए हैं। दूसरा- मेंटेनेंस प्रैक्टिस को सिग्निफिकेंटली इंप्रूव किया गया है। तीसरा- ICF कोचेज का LHB में कन्वर्जन और चौथा – कोच टू ट्रेन सेट कन्वर्जन : रेल मंत्री श्री @AshwiniVaishnaw जी pic.twitter.com/7Q6ZdAe3Jo
Results/outcomes:
Due to these initiatives, Indian railways, during 2025-26 (upto February,2026) recorded an overall punctuality of more than 77%.
No. of Divsions
Punctuality percentage
24
Punctuality of more than 90%
19
Punctuality between 80% and 90%
All Divisions of Indian Railways
77%
24 डिविजन्स ऐसे हैं जिनमें 90% से अधिक पंक्चुअलिटी आ चुकी है। 43 डिविजन्स हैं जिनमें 80% से अधिक है और 8 डिविजन्स हैं जिनमें 95% से अधिक पंक्चुअलिटी आ चुकी है: रेल मंत्री श्री @AshwiniVaishnaw जी pic.twitter.com/ZWJQ7kOOdn
The Challenges:
Several factors, both internal and external, affect punctual running of trains which include foggy weather, path constraints, asset maintenance, alarm chain pulling, agitations, cattle run over and other unforeseen circumstances. The major challenges that affect running of trains include:
1. Mixed Traffic – Different types of trains with different speeds run on the same track. Vande Bharat, Mail/ Express, Passenger trains, Suburban, Freight trains, Military consignments, Engineering machines, etc. having different speed utilise the same track. This leads to requirement of precedence for passenger carrying trains over freight and other trains affecting the through running of trains.
Indian Railways has been taking many measures including infrastructure projects such as Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) and Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) to create dedicated freight paths to give exclusive access to freight trains.
2. Heavy Traffic load – Indian railways run approximately 25,000 trains per day including suburban and freight trains. The major routes like Delhi – Howrah, Mumbai – Kolkata, etc are highly congested affecting punctual running of trains.
Capacity increase of existing network :
Increase of capacity of existing rail network has been taken up in a big way during the last 11 years. The details of new tracks commissioned are as under:-
Period
New track Commissioned
Average commissioning of new tracks
2009-14
7,599 Km
4.2 Km/day
2014-25
34,428 Km
8.6 Km/day (more than 2 times)
Today, approximately 80% of the tracks are upgraded to 110 kmph and about 50% of the tracks are upgraded to 130 kmph: Hon’ble MR Shri @AshwiniVaishnaw pic.twitter.com/OuNF7XiZqM
Further, as on 01.04.2025, across Indian Railways, 431 Railway infrastructure projects (154 New Line, 33 Gauge Conversion and 244 Doubling) of total length 35,966 Km, costing approx. ₹ 6.75 lakh crore are sanctioned. The summary is as under:-
Category
No of Projects
Total Length
NL/GC/DL
(km)
Length Commissioned till Mar’25 (Km)
Total Exp upto Mar’25
(₹ in Cr)
New Lines
154
16,142
3,036
1,45,318
Gauge Conversion
33
4,180
2,997
22,753
Doubling / Multitracking
244
15,644
6,736
1,22,858
Total
431
35,966
12,769
2,90,929
Zone-wise/year-wise details of all Railway projects are made available in public domain on Indian Railway’s website.
With these capacity augmentation works, the punctuality of the trains will improve.
This information was provided by the Union Minister for Railways, Information & Broadcasting and Electronics & Information Technology, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, in a reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.