Central Railway’s punctuality up a notch, to 90 per cent

Central Railway (CR) has improved its punctuality to 90 per cent from 84 per cent on Wednesday by asking mail express trains to wait, especially in the morning peak-hours of 8 am to 11 am.

Officials said that the orders to do this came directly from Union railway minister Suresh Prabhu during his visit to the city on Thursday and constitutes damage control after the Badlapur rail roko last week.

Senior CR officials said they have been asked to improve the punctuality of the suburban sections of the mainline after the rail roko as opposed to the outstation trains.

“Currently, we have been asked to put the mail express trains on the backburner since the incident as the commuters on the suburban section reacted violently, leading to a delay in services,” said an official on the condition of anonymity.

The mail express trains have always taken precedence on Mumbai suburban lines until now and are often given the green signal to pass through while the local trains wait, even during peak periods.

This affects punctuality, where the effect is felt the most.

“The rule of thumb is that if a train is delayed for more than four minutes it is marked as late and trains have been held up for more than 15 minutes because of a mail express train either leaving or entering Mumbai,” added the official.

To add insult to injury, CR has always seen a delay due to the level crossing (LC) gates located on the mainline at Diva, Thakurli, Vasind, etc.

The LC gates cause a delay of five minutes of each train on an average.