Battling Ticketless Travel, Unbooked Luggage, Railways Collects Over Rs 11,456 Crore in Fines Since FY14

he Indian Railways (IR) collected fines totalling over Rs 11,456 crore from passengers travelling without a ticket or with an improper ticket, as well as from those carrying unbooked luggage (UBL) in the last 10 financial years (FY). The country’s national rail carrier also witnessed a jump of over three times in fine collections for the mentioned offenses between FY14 and FY23, that is, from Rs 688.11 crore in FY 14 to Rs 2,260.05 crore in the last fiscal year. In the same period, the Railways detected 26.03 crore ticketless passengers and those travelling without a proper ticket or with UBL at 3.5 crore in FY20, according to an RTI reply accessed by News18. According to railway rules, all three of these actions constitute fraudulent offences under the Railways Act and are subject to punishment with fines and potential imprisonment, depending on the severity of the crime. Section 54 of The Railways Act, 1989 empowers authorised railway staff, including the Train Ticket Inspector in this case, to examine the tickets of those embarking on the journey. Travelling fraudulently (Section 137 of the Railway Act) or without the proper ticket can result in up to six months of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1,000, or both. On the other hand, travelling without the proper pass or ticket (Section 138 of the Railway Act) could lead to monetary penalties, including a minimum fine of Rs 250, in addition to the cost of the ticket for the distance travelled. Zone-wise, the Railways collected the highest amount of fine, totalling Rs 1,506.09 crore in the last 10 financial years, from the Mumbai headquartered Central Railway for the said offences, while the East Coast Railways had the lowest collection at Rs 266.48 crore. The RTI reply further informed that the Northern Railway, headquartered in the national capital, stood out among all 16 railway zones, with 3.37 crore passengers detected travelling without ticket/ with improper ticket & UBL between FY 2013-2023. At 59.05 lakh, the lowest number detected was in the Northeast Frontier Railway, based out of Guwahati.