Bengaluru: With the demand for train tickets increasing, especially during festive seasons and other peak demand periods, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) is dealing with a significant challenge of touts, who book live tickets without proper authorisation and sell them to passengers for a commission.In 2025-26, as many as 144 such touts were arrested in South Western Railway’s (SWR) Bengaluru division alone. RPF officials said the presence of touts usually increases during peak demand periods and in Tatkal quota.The touts arrested in 2025-26 were caught with 277 live tickets, most in bulk, which RPF estimated to be worth just over Rs 4 lakh. “These touts are mostly those who pretend to be agents without getting licence from IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation). They create their own passwords with their phone numbers by buying 2-3 sim cards. Then they create multiple user IDs without licence,” said a senior Bengaluru division RPF officer.Touts usually book tickets online in bulk when they are opened for sale 60 days before journey date. However, with the online push by IRCTC, RPF said the numbers have come down in recent years.“We’re suggesting that all passengers opt for the online mode to buy tickets and this is part of the railway strategy to curb the menace of unending queues and altercations happening near booking windows. We’re actively engaged in online surveillance, we have a cyber cell within the division and in that cell, we analyse the charts and ticket reservation patterns to figure out the touts,” Bengaluru RPF’s senior divisional security commissioner, Shreyans Chinchawade, told TOI.However, the huge push towards online tickets has impacted the economically weaker sections who lack funds to pay the commission for registered agents. Migrant workers often camp in reservation offices a night before to book Tatkal tickets. One such incident at Bengaluru Cantonment last week had led to brawls between passengers over long queues.
