The Ministry of Railways on Wednesday dismissed data circulating on social media suggesting a decline in train punctuality as "misleading" and said the performance has improved significantly over the past eight years.
Officials said that despite high demand, Indian Railways has also made significant improvements in passenger safety and comfort.
This has been achieved through improved monitoring, timetable rationalisation, better maintenance and infrastructure upgrades, they said.
"If we look at the punctuality data, it has improved from 69.2 per cent in 2018-19 to 77.43 per cent in 2025-26 and 77.11 per cent in 2026-27 (so far)," a senior ministry official said.
"Consistent punctuality of more than 77 per cent over the past three years, including the current year, represents an improvement over 2023-24, when punctuality stood at 73.62 per cent," he said.
The official said the figures circulating on social media were being used out of context and were therefore "misleading".
He argued that the figures for years when trains in India were not operating at full capacity could not be compared with those of normal operating periods.
"Hence, the higher punctuality recorded by the Indian Railways during the Covid period is not an appropriate benchmark for comparison. Once normal operations resumed, punctuality returned closer to the long-term average and has been steadily improving," he said.
The ministry reiterated that the unusually high punctuality figures recorded in 2020-21 and 2021-22 were from a period when far fewer trains were operating due to the pandemic.
