Late Trains To Get Costly For Railway Officials; Promotions To Be Delayed Proportionately

The perennial train delay problem faced by Indian Railways commuters might be up for a resolution as the train delays are set to cost officials their promotions, as reported by Economic Times.

During an internal meeting with the heads of zonal railways, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal warned the officials that their appraisals will be delayed in proportion to train delays. Officials can no longer cite maintenance work as reason for chronic train delays.

In the 2017-18 period, 30 per cent trains were reportedly running late. The Northern Railways fared the worst with just over 49 per cent punctuality performance till 29 May.

"While the minister has taken a lot of flak for the delays, he knew it was a price he had to pay for the large-scale renewal of tracks. However, the punctuality figures are way worse than what we had expected. Clearly, the zones are using maintenance work as an excuse to hide their inefficiency," said a source quoted by Economic Times.

"He has now made it clear that by June 30, if he doesn't see improvement, the respective GMs will not be considered for promotion. He also said that their performance ratings will depend on where they figure on the delay list. The lower they are, the worse for them," the source added.

The Railways Minister had to face the Prime Minister’s questions on train delays at the Pragati meeting earlier.