Goyal said the railways lost 88,000 minutes per day in journey time in March 2018, but the number of minutes lost was reduced to 59,000 per day by August 2018. (Reuters)

“Honest” reporting of delays and efforts by railway employees in monitoring trains and routes have improved punctuality of the national transporter by 20 per cent this year, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said Tuesday. Goyal said the railways lost 88,000 minutes per day in journey time in March 2018, but the number of minutes lost was reduced to 59,000 per day by August 2018. This, he said, shows that more trains were sticking to their schedule now than during the beginning of the year.

“We implemented the automatic data logger at over 98 places of railway routes. Due to the automatic data collection, the punctuality of trains dipped in the last few months. “However, now with honest reporting of figures, efforts of the staff, minute analysis of routes and close monitoring, we have been able to improve our punctuality by 20 per cent on an average,” Goyal told media on the sidelines of an event to launch the Rail Sahyog portal.

The minister said before the data loggers became operational on April 1, over 57 trains ran late by more than six hours per day, which meant that more than 1,000 trains ran late for more than six hours per month. “After a series of meeting with officials of the zonal railways, the situation improved in July as only 33 trains ran late for more than six hours per day,” he said, adding that in August the number has now come down to 25.

In March 2018, the railways lost over 88,000 minutes per day in journey time out of the 27 lakh minutes per day that trains ran, he said. “In April, it went up to 1.20 lakh minutes and 1.18 lakh minutes in May. In June, railways lost 95,000 minutes and in July it fell to 67,000 minutes. And 59,000 minutes in August,” Goyal added.