Mumbai: Ticketless travel in the current financial year saw 1.7 lakh more cases as compared to the first seven months in 2019-2020, according to data available with the Central Railways Mumbai division.
The surge in numbers as compared to the pre-Covid era, however, could be a result of more intensive ticket checking drives, especially during festive and holiday seasons, officials claim.
Data on ticketless travellers
The Mumbai divisions of Central and Western Railways detected 19.67 lakh cases for ticketless passengers, and those with unbooked luggage in the first seven months of 2022, of these 11.67 lakh cases were detected by the ticket Central Railway Mumbai division checking staff and 8.03 lakh by Mumbai Central division of Western Railways. In 2019-2020, total 8.16 lakh cases were detected by WRs Mumbai division and 9.97 lakh cases were detected by CRs Mumbai division.
"Checking in local trains, especially during rush hours, is nearly impossible. Every Mumbaikar is aware about this situation in the suburban section. Drastic increase in the number of cases detected is the result of more intensive checking and alertness of our checking staff,” said a CR official. Another CR ticket checker of Mumbai division said, "Our targets have increased now, earlier it was five to six cases, now it has gone up to ten.”
However, in Western Railways Mumbai Central division, a total 8.16 lakh cases were detected in 2019-202 between April to October which is slightly less than the current year. In the current financial year 8.03 lakh cases were detected.
Currently the daily average of passengers of Mumbai Central division of WR is nearly 28 lakh, which was over 35 lakh in 2019. Similarly, the daily average of passengers is nearly 35 lakh, which was around 44 lakh in 2019.
