WR launches drive to crackdown on ticketless travellers in AC locals

Mumbai: The Western Railway (WR) on Monday launched a drive to crackdown on ticketless travellers in air conditioned (AC) locals. This comes two days after a bureaucrat, who heads the commercial department of WR, conducted a surprise check following frequent complaints of ticketless travellers in AC locals.

The WR authorities have formed teams of ticket checking (TC) staff, who have been asked to travel in AC locals during morning and evening peak hours, which are usually from 7am to 11am and 5pm to 9pm.

Since the launch of AC locals, there have been constant complaints by commuters over the need for TCs to prevent ticketless travellers from boarding these trains as it leads to crowding during the peak hours.

“Whenever possible, the teams of TC will also be accompanied by the railway police inside the AC locals. We appeal to the people to buy valid rail tickets and travel,” said a WR official.

Sources said that during the surprise check on April 15, Sunil Mishra, senior divisional commercial manager (Mumbai), boarded a Borivali-bound AC local from Churchgate, and was accompanied by a couple of TCs and railway police.

“In two AC local services, we found 21 ticketless passengers, who were penalised and fines of ₹11,810 were recovered. The most common reason for travelling ticketless or without a valid ticket was the AC local train had arrived and they boarded it as they were getting late,” said a official. “We also tried to educate these commuters about the UTS mobile app that can be used to avoid the queue at the ticket booking counter,” added the official.

“Why was this surprise visit done on a Saturday? It should have been on a working day and during peak hours. The authorities will realise that at least 10% commuters travel without proper ticket in AC locals,” said Rajiv Singhal, former member, Zonal Railway Users Consultative Committee.

On Saturday, after the surprise check, the drive was extended where over 40 cases of without ticket travel was found and fines of more than ₹20000 was realised on the Churchgate -Virar route.

WR authorities said that they frequently conduct intensive ticket checking drives. Since April 2022, more than 48,691 unauthorised passengers have been penalised via surprise ticket checking drives inside AC locals. WR operates 79 services of AC locals daily.

During several checking drives from April 2022 to March 2023, WR recovered an amount to the tune of ₹170.35 crore, which includes ₹43.07 crore from Mumbai Suburban section from 25.63 lakh cases. In March 2023, ₹12.07 crore was recovered through detection of 1.94 lakh ticketless passengers including unbooked luggage cases.