![]() Barring a few months, the trains have a healthy punctuality rate. ![]() TOI accessed the punctuality data for the two Vande Bharat trains between Delhi-Varanasi and Delhi-Katra. On the similar pattern the stoppages of trains may be considered for reduction by railways to reduce the travel time and decongest busy traffic nodes," it recommends. "The halt time includes crew change at Prayagraj. ![]() The stoppage of Vande Bharat 22435/22436 at Kanpur and Prayagraj is only for 2 minutes, the report says. Incidentally, the CAG report has also noted the relatively better punctuality of these train sets. Capable of 160-180 kmph speeds, the trains have been hailed as the future of rail travel in India - both in terms of engineering benefits and passenger comforts. Vande Bharat trains the solution? 400 Vande Bharat trains have been announced - chair car, sleeper type and also aluminium trains for the first time on the network. If not, then what does the railways need to focus on to get this important parameter right and lessons that can be learnt from Japan & China. At a time when Indian Railways is planning to roll out hundreds of "future-ready" Vande Bharat Express, we analyse whether they will help solve the problem of punctuality. However, the average speed of Mail/Express trains remained the same even after 4 years of this mission, the report notes. "Mission Raftaar" was introduced in 2016-17 to double the average speed of freight trains and Mail/Express trains by 2021-22. ![]() The punctuality of Mail/Express trains has declined from 79% in 2012-13 to 69.23% in 2018-19! The audit has found a meagre 0.18% improvement in punctuality and 0.61% in the average speed of Express trains. However, in a recent compliance audit report by CAG, it has been noted that despite significant investments of Rs 2.5 lakh crore during 2008-19, there hasn't been a notable improvement in the punctuality of trains. Experts are also of the view that railways is spending much more on infrastructure upgradation & augmentation in the last few years. On the other hand, Indian Railways trains are generally perceived to be late - a sad reality which has not changed for several years now! Since 2015, there has been a significant increase in capital investment - from Rs 12,895 crore in 2008-09 to Rs 33,931 crore in 2015-16 on new lines, gauge conversion, doubling, electrification & track renewal. Did you know that in Japan if a train arrives before scheduled time it is seen as a punctuality loss? In fact, Japan measures its train punctuality in seconds. ![]()
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