Cancel trains with low occupancy, curtail halt timings to improve punctuality: Railway report

Cancellation of trains with low occupancy and curtailment of halt timings are among the recommendations made by an internal committee of railways to ensure punctuality.

The report on the punctuality of trains, which has been submitted to the Railway Board, has made a slew of suggestions to improve the performance of the railway zones.

"In case of low patronization of trains, they should be canceled and passengers adjusted in available trains," said the report while listing out ways to enhance punctuality.

The report, also suggested the curtailment of halt timings to improve punctuality.

Railway sources said that the cost of a train stoppage ranges from Rs 12,716 to Rs 24,506. As per the standard rules, any new stoppage should be able to recover the cost.

The Railway Board, officials said, has already issued directions for zones to list uneconomical halts and eventually either eliminate them or curtail their timings.

The report has made both long term and short term recommendations to the board for the railway zones to follow.

As short-term goals, it has proposed fencing of tracks to keep human, cattle, and vehicles away, standard composition and formation of trains, adequate spares for each type of coach, elimination of surface crossings and unmanned level crossings and automated feed of train timings as measures to improve punctuality.

Among the long-term measures, the report has said that to achieve punctuality, railways should separate suburban and main line corridors as well as goods and coaching corridors wherever possible.

Railways should also expedite right powering of coaching and goods trains to avoid loss of punctuality, it said.

"Loco should not be made based in home shed. Loco should be capable of being maintained by any shed of IR," the report stated, adding that zones should put in place an automated signaling system.