Central Railway will soon start an intensive ticket-checking drive in AC locals, according to officials.
Last week over three days (August 18, 19 and 20) ticket-checkers caught 548 passengers travelling in air-conditioned locals without tickets and fined them Rs1.7 lakh.
On August 18, 31 railway staff and 16 security personnel (Railway Protection Force) were deployed in trains and they caught 212 passengers without proper tickets. On August 19, 30 ticket checking staff and 16 RPF personnel caught 169 ticket-less travellers. On August 20, two dozen staff and 15 RPF personnel fined 167 passengers.
A CR official confirmed that the drive against ticket-less travel will be intensified “for the convenience of authorised ticket holders”.
“AC locals on Mumbai suburban network aresafe, comfortable and cheap. For example amonthly season pass for one person travelling between CSMT and Kalyan costs Rs2,135. The pass gives them 50 trips,up and down 25 working days. Hence the cost of a single journey comes to Rs43,” he said.
Many car owners have now started using the AC service, which is faster and cheaper than road transport,” the official said.
Central Railway started AC services in January 2020. Since then the number of services has increased, and CR now operates 66 services on the main line of Mumbai Division.
“Initially the number of passengers carried daily was around 100-150. But over a period of time, that has gone up, and currently the number of passengers per day is 38,516. To meet commuter demand and make it more affordable, railways slashed the first-class fare by 50 per cent from May 5,” another official said, adding the numbers increased dramatically after the price revision.
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