Punctuality of trains goes up to 75% in Kerala

Replacement of tracks in 110 km and ballast helps Railways achieve the feat in the State

Replacement of tracks in 110 km last fiscal, a record, and 1.20 lakh cubic metres of ballast on tracks have helped Railways improve the punctuality of trains running in the State to 75%.

The punctuality that was 45.9 % on June 13 last year went up to 75% on the same day this year.

The improvement in track condition is reflected in the punctuality of mail, express, and passenger trains.

As the Thiruvananthapuram division’s jurisdiction extends to adjoining Tamil Nadu and the Palakkad division’s up to Mangaluru, the spin-off effect is felt outside the State.

Of the 110 km of tracks replaced, 75% was in the Ernakulam-Shoranur section, which also has high deficiency of ballast due to the large number of curves and gradients.

For Railways, the punctuality hovering around 75 % is a relief as they had earned the wrath of commuters and the government for the late running of trains.

The slew of measures to improve the punctuality commenced after the Thiruvananthapuram division dropped to 66th with 53% punctuality and the Palakkad division to 48th with 76.81% punctuality during the August 27-September 2 period last year among the 69 rail divisions in the country.

“We are aiming to raise the punctuality to 80% by December. The improvement in punctuality has come as a breather for Railways and to plan replacement of the remaining tracks,” Divisional Railway Manager Shirish Kumar Sinha told The Hindu .

Crucial factors

Good conditions of rails and ballast are the key factors for maintaining punctuality. Compared to 40,000- 50,000 cubic metres of ballast newly added to the track, Railways added 1.20 lakh cubic metres of ballast last fiscal.

“In the current fiscal also, the target is to replace another 100 km of tracks and add one lakh cubic metres of ballast in view of the two monsoons that last for six months and high density of traffic through the network,” Mr. Sinha said.

Trains are running at 100 kmph in the Thiruvananthapuram Central- Kayamkulam corridor and 80 kmph in the Ernakulam-Shoranur and Thiruvananthapuram Central-Shoranur corridors.

Railways have commenced work to maintain a uniform speed of 80 kmph in the Ernakulam-Kayamkulam corridor.

The state-of-the-art track relaying train (TRT) imported from the U.S. will be deployed for track renewal in 20 km along the Thiruvananthapuram Central-Kayamkulam section from July.

The works will be taken up during night and completed by August.