Railways collect Rs 100 crore from ticketless passengers in Mumbai

Mumbai: In a record development, the Central Railways' Mumbai division has collected Rs 100 crore fine from ticketless train passengers between April 2022 to February 2023. It is the first division in Indian Railways to achieve this feat.

Central Railways chief public relations officer Shivaji Sutar told NDTV that the department does not have any target to meet and the purpose of checking is to make sure passengers feel comfortable and convenient. "We intensified ticket checking after complaints that ticketless passengers are causing inconvenience to those who have bought tickets, both in trains and on stations, and got this result."

Last year, the fine collected amounted to Rs 60 crore. This year, 18 lakh ticketless passengers were responsible for the fine. Central Railways has repeatedly told passengers to avoid travelling without tickets but it is regularly ignored.

The Mumbai division has 77 railway stations and 1,200 ticket examiners. One TTE told the outlet that the body language of a passenger often tells us that there is something fishy. "It's not easy to make a ticketless passenger pay as they make several excuses. But after they realise their mistake, we prosecute them under relevant sections."