Western Railway continues its steadfast efforts to curb ticketless and irregular travel through extensive and sustained ticket checking drives across its network. In line with its commitment to revenue protection and passenger discipline, the Ticket Checking staff of Western Railway has shown exemplary performance during the current financial year.
Sharp Rise in Penalties Recovered
According to a press release issued by Chief Public Relations Officer of Western Railway, Shri Vineet Abhishek, a highly motivated team of ticket checking staff, under the active supervision of Senior Commercial Officers, has undertaken rigorous checks in Mumbai Suburban locals, long-distance Mail/Express trains, passenger services, and holiday special trains. The objective has been to minimize revenue leakage and enhance travel discipline.
During the period from April 2025 to January 2026, more than 27 lakh ticketless/irregular passengers, including unbooked luggage cases, were detected, resulting in the realization of an amount to the tune of about Rs 172.55 Crore, marking almost 47% increase over the corresponding period last year. In the month of January, 2026, 2.82 lakh cases of ticketless travel/irregular passengers were detected and an amount of more than Rs 17 Crore was recovered, registering around 31% increase over the previous year.
Focus on Mumbai Suburban Section
In the Mumbai Suburban section, intensive ticket checking drives have yielded significant results. During the month of January 2026, a total of 1.02 lakh cases of ticketless/irregular travel were detected, resulting in the realization of an amount to the tune of Rs 4.34 Crore. Cumulatively, during the period from April 2025 to January 2026, 9.75 lakh cases were detected in Mumbai Suburban section with a total recovery of Rs 45.60 Crore (including fines in AC locals) reflecting Western Railway’s sustained focus on ensuring disciplined and authorised travel across its suburban network.
Western Railway has also maintained focused checking drives in AC suburban local trains. Frequent surprise checks were conducted to prevent unauthorized travel by general ticket holders. Between April 2025 and January 2026, more than 1 lakh penalty cases were booked in AC local services, resulting in recovery of ₹3.38 Crore as fine, registering an increase of almost 97% over the corresponding period last year.
Goal: Minimize Revenue Leakage
Vineet further stated that Western Railway (WR), Mumbai Division, has intensified joint enforcement drives to curb the rising instances of passengers travelling using fake or forged UTS tickets. During one such drive, a case of fraudulent ticketing was detected by ticket checking staff, Smt. Deepika Murty, Chief Ticket Inspector, Mumbai Central, while on duty in a Virar-bound local train. In the women’s first-class compartment, a lady passenger produced a virtual UTS AC local pass on her mobile phone which appeared suspicious. Upon verification, it was confirmed that the pass was not officially issued through the UTS system. The passenger was deboarded at Bandra, where she admitted that the pass had been generated using a fraudulent UTS application shared via WhatsApp. With the assistance of RPF staff, the passenger was handed over to the Railway Police for further legal action.
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