Indian Railways is strengthening operational reliability and punctuality across the national rail network through systematic monitoring, improved maintenance practices and advanced track management techniques while safely operating about 25,000 trains every day.
The information was provided by Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister for Railways, Information and Broadcasting and Electronics and Information Technology, in a written reply to questions in the Lok Sabha.
Massive Daily Operations Across Rail Network
Indian Railways operates around 25,000 trains every day, transporting millions of passengers and large volumes of freight across the country. Despite the scale of operations, incidents of asset failure remain limited to around two percent, including failures related to locomotives and overhead equipment.
Railway authorities analyse unusual incidents and implement corrective measures to ensure reliability and safety across the system.
Officials noted that train punctuality can be affected by several factors including foggy weather, infrastructure constraints, asset maintenance requirements, alarm chain pulling, agitations, cattle run over incidents and other unforeseen circumstances.
Improvement In Train Punctuality
Indian Railways has undertaken multiple initiatives to improve punctuality and operational efficiency.
These include rigorous monitoring of passenger train operations at divisional, zonal and Railway Board levels, introduction of rolling block systems to enable effective asset maintenance, removal of infrastructure bottlenecks and scientific rationalisation of train timetables.
To ensure accurate reporting of train movements, data loggers have been introduced to capture real time arrival and departure information of passenger trains.
These measures have contributed to gradual improvement in punctuality performance.
Punctuality levels improved from 73.62 percent in the financial year 2023 24 to 77.12 percent in 2024 25 and reached 77.24 percent up to February 2026 in the current financial year.
Continuous Maintenance Of Railway Assets
Regular inspection and maintenance of railway assets including tracks, rolling stock, overhead equipment and signalling systems are carried out according to prescribed standards to ensure safe train operations.
Maintenance activities are monitored by designated officials at divisions, depots and workshops across zonal railways.
Preventive maintenance programmes are also implemented to minimise failures and improve operational reliability.
Railway staff are regularly trained and counselled to maintain high standards in maintenance and operations.
Special punctuality drives and staff awareness programmes have also been introduced to strengthen operational discipline.
Monitoring Causes Of Delays
Indian Railways continuously monitors punctuality loss caused by infrastructure maintenance, diesel locomotive issues, overhead equipment failures, signalling faults, track conditions, congestion and rolling stock problems.
Detailed analysis is conducted to identify root causes and implement improvement measures.
Strengthening Reliability Of Diesel Locomotives
Diesel locomotives continue to play an important role in crisis management and operational flexibility within the railway system.
To improve reliability of diesel locomotives, Indian Railways has introduced several technological and operational improvements.
These include installation of Remote Monitoring and Management of Locomotives and Trains systems in diesel locomotives.
Prompt response teams have been deployed across the country to address issues in WDG4G and WDG6G locomotives.
Maintenance periodicity of critical components such as computer controlled brake systems has also been improved to enhance locomotive performance and reliability.
Improving Reliability Of Overhead Equipment
Overhead equipment plays a critical role in ensuring reliable electric train operations.
Indian Railways has implemented several maintenance practices and special drives to improve reliability of overhead equipment.
These include scheduled foot patrolling, regular tower wagon inspections and traction distribution audits.
Systematic replacement of ageing infrastructure has also been undertaken to strengthen operational performance.
Railway authorities have adopted several best practices to prevent overhead equipment failures.
These include identifying trees located near railway tracks that could interfere with overhead equipment and undertaking trimming or removal of such vegetation.
Regular cleaning of insulators in polluted areas is also carried out to prevent electrical faults.
Seasonal adjustments are made to auto tensioning devices to ensure proper functioning during temperature variations.
Special drives are conducted to inspect crossover and turnout sections and ensure correct adjustment of overhead equipment parameters.
Regular counselling sessions are organised at depot level to reinforce adherence to maintenance standards while cross audits between maintenance depots help identify operational gaps.
Timely replacement of worn out contact wires and catenary systems is undertaken based on condition assessment.
Damaged insulators are also identified and replaced through targeted maintenance drives.
Scientific Approach To Track Maintenance
Indian Railways has also strengthened track maintenance through deep screening of ballast, a mechanised process that improves track stability, drainage and resilience.
Deep screening removes contaminated ballast and restores the ballast bed using Ballast Cleaning Machines and High Output Ballast Cleaning Machines.
Earlier this activity was conducted based on track age. The approach has now shifted to a scientific system based on the actual condition of ballast.
Under the revised criteria deep screening of main line tracks is scheduled when the clean ballast cushion falls below 200 millimetres.
Over the last five years Indian Railways has significantly expanded mechanised capacity by inducting 65 ballast cleaning machines including high output variants.
Increasing Pace Of Track Maintenance
Operational planning for deep screening has also been strengthened through advance preparation of ballast materials equipment tools and trained manpower.
Improved sequencing and scheduling of maintenance works have enabled faster execution and better resource utilisation.
Special priority has been given to maintenance at points and crossings which are operationally sensitive sections of the railway network.
Detailed guidelines and standard operating procedures have been issued to ensure uniform implementation of deep screening works.
Joint procedure orders have also been introduced to enable safe and coordinated work at critical track locations.
As a result the progress of deep screening has steadily increased over the years.
The total deep screening progress recorded was 9,985 track kilometres in 2020 21, 10,056 track kilometres in 2021 22, 10,766 track kilometres in 2022 23, 14,935 track kilometres in 2023 24 and 15,433 track kilometres in 2024 25.
Strengthening Operational Efficiency
Officials said the shift from age based maintenance to condition based maintenance combined with increased mechanisation and improved operational planning has significantly improved the efficiency and quality of railway infrastructure maintenance.
These initiatives are aimed at enhancing reliability, improving punctuality and ensuring safe and smooth movement of trains across the country.
