Central Railway collects over Rs 8.6 lakh in fines from ticketless travelers in a day at Thane railway station

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The Central Railway collected more than Rs 8.6 lakh in fines from ticketless and unauthorised travellers in a single day at Thane railway station in Maharashtra, an official said on Tuesday.

A team of 120 ticket-checking staff of the Central Railway's Mumbai division, three senior officials and 30 Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel carried out intensive ticket checking at Thane railway station on Monday, the Central Railway stated in a release.

At least 3,092 cases of ticketless or unauthorised travel were detected, and more than Rs 8.6 lakh were collected in fines in a single day, it stated.

The Mumbai division conducted intensive ticket checking in suburban, mail express, passenger services and special trains to curb instances of ticketless and irregular travel, the release said.

Meanwhile, the Western Railway on Friday, October 6, said that it collected Rs 81.18 crore as a fine during ticket checking drives between April to September this year.

In an official statement, the Western Railway said that in order to ensure hassle-free, comfortable travel and better services to all bonafide passengers over Western Railway, intensive ticket checking drives are being carried out continuously over Mumbai suburban local services, Mail/Express as well as passenger trains and holiday special trains so as to curb the menace of ticketless/irregular passengers.

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It said, the highly motivated ticket-checking team under the supervision of senior commercial officers of Western Railway organised several ticket-checking drives during the months from April to September 2023, thereby recovering an amount to the tune of Rs. 81.18 Crore, which also includes Rs. 20.74 Cr from Mumbai Suburban section.

According to a press release issued by Sumit Thakur - Chief Public Relations Officer of Western Railway, during the month of September 2023, an amount of Rs.9.50 crore was recovered through the detection of 1.64 lakh ticketless/irregular passengers, including unbooked luggage cases.

In the month of September, the Western Railway realized fines amounting to Rs.2.34 crore through the detection of over 53,000 cases over the Mumbai Suburban section. To prevent unauthorized entry into AC local trains, frequent surprise ticket-checking drives are carried out. As a result of these drives, more than 38000 unauthorized passengers have been penalized during the period April to September 2023 and Rs. 126.13 lakhs collected in fines, which is about 140% higher than the same period of last year.

"The Western Railway appeals to the general public to travel with proper and valid tickets," the Western Railway said. (With inputs from PTI)