Jamshedpur: One of Jamshedpur's oldest and most popular trains to Calcutta, the Steel Superfast Express, is fast losing its sheen, coming in late to Tatanagar almost every other day, a recurring occurrence that even state-of-the-art coaches fitted to a new and efficient engine haven't been able to address.

According to railway records, last week, the train arrived late every day (see chart). On Saturday, July 7, the train reached around 9.50 pm against a schedule reaching time of 9.25pm. Sources said the train is more or less on schedule till it reaches Kharagpur, maintaining an average speed of 110kmph for the entire duration of its 251km journey.

The delays happen after that with the railways blaming increased traffic of long-distance trains during the time at Tatanagar as the primary reasons while passengers see inefficiency at play.

Sonari resident Sumanta Banerjee, who travels to Calcutta twice a week, is mighty upset. S.K. Jain, a trader and another regular commuter, says the delay upsets his business. He is unable to understand why the new German-designed LHB (Linke Hofmann Busch) coaches, pulled by a powerful electric locomotive (WAP-7 is capable of higher speeds) introduced on June 11, aren't making a difference as far as punctuality is concerned.

A former executive of a Tata group company shared his experience. "I have travelled twice between Howrah and Tatanagar in the newly configured Steel Express. On one of the days, the train left Tatanagar at 6.25am, which was 10 minutes late, but made it to Howrah at 10am, half an hour before schedule.

"On the return journey, the train left Howrah at 5.30pm. It reached somewhere between Rakhamines and Salgajhuri on the outskirts of Tatanagar station by 9pm but took an hour to reach Tatanagar. By the time it did, it was 10pm, a delay of 35 minutes," he said, but admitted that the new coaches ensured the was comfortable.

Railway sources said the reasons behind the delay were operational. One, there are more goods trains that ply the region during the time; and two, allotting a platform to Steel Express at Tatanagar Station is delayed since a number of long-distance trains arrive at the time. And when that happens, Steel Express is halted at Asanboni or Rakhamines.

Tatanagar station director H.K. Balmuchu admitted frequent delays. "It is an operational issue which we are trying to sort out," he told The Telegraph.

South Eastern Railway CPRO Sanjay Ghosh claimed the punctuality record of Steel Express had improved by six per cent since the introduction of the LHB rake. "It was 90 per cent earlier. Now, the punctuality has improved to 96 per cent. But there's scope of improvement," he said.

Arun Tiwari, a senior functionary of Chhotanagpur Passenger Association, blamed railway inefficiency.

"Passengers, especially steel city traders and corporate sector employees, use Steel Express for a day trip to Calcutta. But if the railways cannot guarantee punctuality during a journey of a mere 251km with barely four stops, it is a sad commentary of the state of affairs of the service. Moreover, it gives a very bad impression as a number of foreign delegates keep coming to Jamshedpur," he said, adding that it is also unfair of the railways to levy extra charges on account of the "superfast" tag given to the train.