Mumbai: Central Railway has launched a major operation to combat ticket touting during Ganesh Chaturthi.
Railway authorities have identified 164 suspected user IDs associated with ticket bookings for Konkan-bound trains, a CR official said on Thursday. These users came to notice because of incomplete profiles, disposable email IDs, and suspicious ticketing history, he said.
“Further investigation revealed that out of 181 PNRs (passenger name records) booked by these users, 102 were reserved within the first minute of the ticket reservation period. The matter is currently under examination,” he added.
CR expresses concern over difficulties faced by passengers
Central Railway has expressed concerns over the difficulties faced by a number of passengers travelling from the Konkan area to their villages during the festival.
Complaints suggest a racket involved in bulk booking of railway tickets, which are subsequently sold at inflated prices by brokers, an officer who is part of the investigating team said.
“To shed light on the issue, Central Railway conducted a comprehensive analysis. The investigation revealed that approximately 5,058 berths are available per day on all trains combined during the festival rush in the Konkan region. Within the first four minutes of the opening of the advance reservation period (ARP), a staggering 54,401 bookings were made for the period from September 15 to 21. This far exceeds the available capacity of 35,406 seats, indicating an overwhelming demand,” he said.
According to CR, during the initial four minutes of the ARP opening in May, 54,401 passengers secured their tickets. Out of these, 5,875 passengers booked their tickets through physical counters, while 48,526 made their bookings online. In comparison, last year during the same period, a total of 25,995 passengers booked their tickets, with 6,010 through counters and 19,985 through online platforms. This year’s numbers show more than double the bookings, signifying a substantial increase in demand.
Investigations underway regarding suspicious online and counter tickets
In the opening week of this year’s festival season, 5,087 passengers secured their tickets through counter bookings, and 19,226 booked their tickets online. In contrast, during the opening week of the previous year, 5,482 passengers booked through counters, while 11,844 passengers booked online. This indicates an increase of 6,987 seats available this year.
“Investigations are currently underway regarding suspicious online and counter tickets. Analyses have shown that the share of counter tickets from Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, and Gujarat decreased slightly from 93.69% to 86.86% compared to last year. However, bookings from other states have shown marginal growth,” the official said.
“Moreover, certain smaller stations have witnessed a disproportionately high number of reservations, which is being investigated further,” the CR official said, adding that the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation has conducted a comprehensive analysis of online tickets for the aforementioned period.
The investigation has revealed that authorised agents are not allowed to book tickets until 15 minutes after the opening time. Personal users, on the other hand, are permitted to book tickets within the first 15 minutes. However, no user can obtain tickets through internet ticketing before the prescribed time checks, which currently stands at 40 seconds.
Pointers:
54,401
Passengers booked their tickets in the initial four minutes of the advance reservation period opening in May
5,875
Passengers booked their tickets through physical counters
48,526
Passengers who booked their tickets online
