NEW DELHI, May 4 (Xinhua) -- The state-owned Indian Railways has registered a dismal punctuality performance in the financial year 2017-2018, its worst in the past three years.

According to official statistics released by the Indian Railways, nearly 30 percent of passenger trains, both mail and express, ran late between April 2017 and March 2018 across the country, a figure which is high as compared to the previous two fiscals.

A senior Indian Railways official said Friday that there were several reasons for late running of trains. "Signal malfunction, rolling stock breakdown, overhead equipment failure all contribute to a decline in the punctuality rate of trains," he said.

"Anyway, the Indian Railways is trying its best to spruce up its performance, despite several odds. We know that punctuality is a problem. But we are trying to fix it. Gradually we will make all trains stick to schedule," he added.

Commuters are, however, not convinced.

"The Indian Railways is the lifeline of the country. But trains never run on time. Even superfast trains run late in the country. Every year, the Indian Railways comes up with several assurances, but they are not implemented on the ground," said Manju Garg, a commuter in Delhi.

But the Indian Railways has been, of late, taking several steps to revive its performance. Some months back, it announced to sack in one go 13,000 railway employees on "unauthorized" leave for a long time to bring in discipline in the service.

The Indian Railways is one of the world's largest train networks, criss-crossing the country from north to south. It operates some 9,000 passenger trains and carries nearly 23 million passengers every day.

This vast public enterprise can be referred to as a semi-state. It runs schools, hospitals, has it own police force and construction companies, and has 1.3 million people on its payroll, making it the seventh biggest employer in the world.

However, train disasters are quite common in India because much of the colonial-era rail infrastructure is out of date and needs urgent overhaul. A number of people are killed in train accidents, mostly derailments, across the country every year.

In 2015, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government pledged 137 billion U.S. dollars over five years to modernise and expand the railways.