The Indian Railways had recently decided to extend the timetable for nearly 200 trains in the country after a drop in punctuality across railway zones.
According to a reply to a question in Rajya Sabha , one reason offered for this change has been the increase in safety works on railway tracks.
The graph below plots average punctuality rate (in % for the last three years) and the total number of railway accidents (in the past four years) zone-wise.
Punctuality rates are generally higher in zones with relatively fewer accidents.
