Central Railway (CR) witnessed a nearly 33% spike in ticketless and irregular travel during November 2023. The central railway ticket-checking staff detected 5.01 lakh cases of irregular travel in November. This surge, compared to 3.77 lakh instances reported in the same period last year, is attributed to intensified ticket-checking drives.
CR officials state that the heightened vigilance, aimed at curbing ticketless travel, revealed a substantial increase in violations.
Measures to enforce stricter checks
A senior CR official emphasized the proactive measures taken to enforce stricter checks and expressed commitment to ensuring the integrity of the ticketing system. Ticket-checking drives are set to be more intensified in the future.
"In addition to regular ticket checking and special ticket checking drives, Central Railway conducted 571 magisterial checks from April to November 2023. This marks an increase from the corresponding period in 2022, with 478 magisterial checks" he said.
"During April to November 2023, CR registered a total of 32.34 lakh cases of irregular travel, collecting Rs.213.16 crore in fines," said an official.
However, passenger associations raised concerns about the surge in ticketless travel. Subhash Gupta, Chairman of Kurla Yatri Sangh, highlighted time constraints in Mumbai, citing long queues at ticket windows as a reason some passengers opt to travel without tickets.
Lata Agarde, secretary of the suburban passengers association, identified two contributing factors: a lack of continuity in ticket checking drives and a shortage of staff. Insufficient presence on platforms and in trains diminishes the deterrent effect, emphasizing the need for a consistent and more vigilant ticket-checking mechanism.
Ticketless travel crackdown at Thane station unveils 1,309 offenders in 8 hour
In a special ticket-checking operation at Thane station on Tuesday, Central Railways Mumbai division unveiled a staggering 1,309 cases of ticketless travel in just eight hours. Executed by a dedicated team of 70 staff, including 12 Railway Protection Force officers and 58 ticket checkers, the special fortress check resulted in fines totalling Rs 4,19,235 collected from 1,309 offenders.
The offences were diverse, with 952 cases of ticketless travel in second-class compartments, 43 in air-conditioned local trains, and 77 in first-class. Furthermore, 135 instances of unbooked luggage and 102 cases of passengers travelling in higher classes on general tickets were identified.
Leading the charge in detecting irregular travel was DK Yadav, uncovering the highest count of 54 cases, followed closely by S K Sambare with 39 cases, and Megha Pawar, who detected 27 cases, contributing to the successful operation.
