Central Railway intensifies ticket checking as festive rush begins

Pune: With the festive season underway, Central Railway (CR) has intensified action against unauthorised and ticketless travel across its network. Officials said between April and Aug this year, CR teams have apprehended 18.03 lakh passengers travelling without tickets or with invalid travel authority and recovered Rs 140.81 crore in penalties. During the corresponding period last year, 17.19 lakh cases were detected and Rs 100.50 crore was collected.While the number of cases rose by nearly 5%, penalty collections increased by more than 40%, officials said.“Festival rush is expected to swell at all stations through year-end, with many likely to travel without tickets. Crowds are already rising across CR, and divisions have been told to stay alert and deploy all resources to keep operations smooth and prevent any untoward incident,” a senior CR official told TOI.The Mumbai division accounted for the highest penalty collection, recovering Rs 58.46 crore from 8.80 lakh cases. It was followed by Bhusaval, which collected Rs 35.52 crore from 3.42 lakh cases.Pune division detected 1.86 lakh cases and collected Rs16.29 crore, while Nagpur reported 2.11 lakh cases and recovered Rs15.83 crore. Solapur recorded 95,000 cases and collected Rs6.13 crore during the period.The trend continued in Aug, though cases fell to 2.57 lakh from 2.76 lakh a year earlier. Penalty collections still rose over 41%, to Rs19.5 crore from Rs13.78 crore.Officials attributed the higher collections partly to the revision of the minimum penalty for ticketless travel from Rs250 to Rs500.“Travelling without a valid ticket is an offence under the Railways Act and attracts penal action. Ticketless travel also impacts railway revenue, which is utilised for improving passenger amenities, safety and infrastructure,” the official said.CR has adopted a multi-pronged checking strategy, including station, ambush, fortress and intensive checks and mega ticket-checking drives, across trains and stations, especially in the Mumbai and Pune divisions.Divisions have been asked to stay vigilant and deploy adequate manpower as festivals draw crowds. Officials urged passengers to buy valid tickets, noting that ticketless travel adds to the strain on the system.