diff --git a/native_client/ctcdecode/ctc_beam_search_decoder.cpp b/native_client/ctcdecode/ctc_beam_search_decoder.cpp
index a50f731f..35461c4e 100644
--- a/native_client/ctcdecode/ctc_beam_search_decoder.cpp
+++ b/native_client/ctcdecode/ctc_beam_search_decoder.cpp
@@ -25,15 +25,16 @@ DecoderState* decoder_init(const Alphabet &alphabet,
 
   // assign special ids
   DecoderState *state = new DecoderState;
+  state->time_step = 0;
   state->space_id = alphabet.GetSpaceLabel();
   state->blank_id = alphabet.GetSize();
 
   // init prefixes' root
   PathTrie *root = new PathTrie;
   root->score = root->log_prob_b_prev = 0.0;
-  
+
   state->prefix_root = root;
-  
+
   state->prefixes.push_back(root);
 
   if (ext_scorer != nullptr && !ext_scorer->is_character_based()) {
@@ -57,8 +58,8 @@ void decoder_next(const double *probs,
                   Scorer *ext_scorer) {
 
   // prefix search over time 
-  for (size_t time_step = 0; time_step < time_dim; ++time_step) {
-    auto *prob = &probs[time_step*class_dim];
+  for (size_t rel_time_step = 0; rel_time_step < time_dim; ++rel_time_step, ++state->time_step) {
+    auto *prob = &probs[rel_time_step*class_dim];
 
     float min_cutoff = -NUM_FLT_INF;
     bool full_beam = false;
@@ -99,7 +100,7 @@ void decoder_next(const double *probs,
         }
 
         // get new prefix
-        auto prefix_new = prefix->get_path_trie(c, time_step, log_prob_c);
+        auto prefix_new = prefix->get_path_trie(c, state->time_step, log_prob_c);
 
         if (prefix_new != nullptr) {
           float log_p = -NUM_FLT_INF;
diff --git a/native_client/ctcdecode/decoderstate.h b/native_client/ctcdecode/decoderstate.h
index 751255bf..1a92e80e 100644
--- a/native_client/ctcdecode/decoderstate.h
+++ b/native_client/ctcdecode/decoderstate.h
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 /* Struct for the state of the decoder, containing the prefixes and initial root prefix plus state variables. */
 
 struct DecoderState {
+  int time_step;
   int space_id;
   int blank_id;
   std::vector<PathTrie*> prefixes;