(a) whether almost all trains originating from Bihar are reaching their destinations very late, i.e. these are running late by 12 hours;
(b) if so, the reasons therefor;
(c) whether the Government has taken any concrete measures to ensure operation of trains as per schedule; and
(d) if so, the details thereof?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(SHRI RAJEN GOHAIN)
(a) & (b) Focused attention is given daily by the Indian Railways at the station, Division, Zonal headquarter and Railway Board levels in ensuring the punctuality of all passenger carrying trains, in general, and specifically for the trains originating from Bihar. Trains, at times, get delayed due to causes, some of which are in the control of Railways, such as, equipment failures related to locomotives, Over Head Electrical Equipment, track, signals, carriage & wagon etc., congestion due to saturated line capacity on sections dealing with excess freight and passenger traffic than warranted and blocks are to be given for maintenance and increasing line and terminal capacity for carrying more traffic every year as well as the reasons beyond control of the Railways, such as law and order problems – observance of Bandhs and security threats in Left Wing Extremist areas involving Mokameh-Jhajha, Muzaffarpur-Barauni, Hajipur - Muzaffarpur sections of East Central Railway requiring reduction of speeds for maintaining the safety of operations, passing of trains through the elephant corridor with restricted speed, natural calamities, frequent public agitations in Bihar, electricity grid failures, bad weather, cattle run over, heavy road traffic at level crossing gates etc.
(a) During April-July 2017, trains in the LWE (Left Wing Extremism) affected areas in Bihar and Jharkhand were forced to move at a reduced speed for about 50 days due to frequent bandh observance by Left Wing Extremists having a cascading effect on train operation in that area.
(c) & (d) Presently, movement of both Mail/Express and Passenger trains is being monitored online at divisional level, zonal level and Railway Board level through Punctuality Analysis and Monitoring Module (PAM) which is a part of ICMS (Integrated Coaching Management System), an online monitoring system.
Indian Railways have initiated various short and long term measures for addressing the problem of capacity constraints on the routes of trains passing through Mughalsarai-Allahabad-Ghaziabad sector of North Central Railway which include provision of automatic signaling from Aligarh to Ghaziabad on 3rd line, extension of platforms, commissioning of longer loop lines at 10 stations, raising of speed to 160 kmph on New Delhi- Mughalsarai route besides the construction of double-line dedicated freight corridor (DFC) between Mughalsarai-Allahabad-Khurja, electrification of Lucknow-Gorakhpur-Chhapra-Barauni-Katihar and doubling of Chhapra-Muzaffarpur.
Further, Railways have initiated various measures such as launching of punctuality drives, sensitising staff involved in train operations, improving asset reliability, rectification of asset failures in the shortest possible time and having better co-ordination with State Governments and civil authorities to deal with law & order problems effectively.
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