As much as 16 per cent rail network carries 60 per cent traffic, says Suresh Prabhu

Assuring that work is being done to address the issues, Suresh Prabhu said punctuality is being handled every day.

As much as 16 per cent of the railway network carries 60 per cent of the traffic, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. He said a signalling system of a “very high value” is being prepared so that trains can run properly. Responding to a query as to why Rajdhani and Duronto trains are getting delayed, Prabhu said a major reason for train delays is heavy congestion as there has been a significant increase in traffic compared to the railway infrastructure.

Assuring that work is being done to address the issues, he said punctuality is being handled every day. “Some networks are operating at 160 per cent to 170 per cent of the capacity,” he said, adding that doubling and tripling of 16,500 kilometres of rail network has been sanctioned.

“Age-old problems with which the railway was suffering and which have caused serious challenge to run the trains on time today will be properly addressed,” he said during Question Hour. The minister said the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed rail project has been sanctioned for implementation with technical and financial assistance of the Japanese government.

“Procurement of high speed rolling stock is an integral part of the project that envisages promoting ‘Make-in-India’ of high speed rolling stock in a phased manner,” he added. round 85 per cent of the funding for the project would come from the Japanese and that too on “very soft terms”. “This is the best soft term under the Overseas Development Assistance,” he added.