Mumbai: Central Railway (CR) has intensified its ticket-checking operations across its network, recovering Rs 140.8 crore from unauthorised travellers between April and Aug. This performance marks a 40% surge in penalty earnings compared to the same period last year, underscoring the railway administration’s zero-tolerance policy towards ticketless travel, a senior official said on Sunday.During this five-month window, dedicated ticket-checking squads apprehended 18 lakh offenders, translating to an average of roughly 11,000 penalties and Rs 92 lakh collected daily. Officials attribute the financial leap to a combination of heightened surveillance and the revised minimum penalty for ticketless travel, which doubled from Rs 250 to Rs 500.Performance varied across divisions, with Mumbai division leading the tally by recovering Rs 58.5 crore from 8.8 lakh cases. Bhusaval division followed with Rs 35.5 crore across 3.4 lakh cases, while Pune and Nagpur divisions secured Rs 16.3 crore and Rs 15.8 crore respectively. Additionally, Solapur division and headquarters contributed Rs 6.1 crore and Rs 8.6 crore to the total earnings.In the month of Aug alone, CR collected Rs 19.5 crore, representing a 41% increase over Aug 2025. This higher revenue came despite a slight dip in total cases detected, dropping from 2.7 lakh in Aug 2025 to 2.5 lakh in Aug this year, suggesting that tighter inspections and steeper fines are successfully deterring offenders.To curb fare evasion, CR has deployed a multi-pronged strategy. “This includes fortress checks, ambush inspections, station sweeps, and mega drives conducted across mail, express, passenger, special, and suburban trains in Mumbai and Pune divisions,” said CR chief spokesperson Swapnil Nila.Railway authorities emphasised that travelling without a valid ticket was an offence under the Railways Act that directly impacted the revenue needed to fund modern passenger amenities, safety upgrades, and infrastructure improvements.
