Free trippers are eating into the revenue of East Coast Railway (ECoR), more so in two of its divisions located in Odisha.
“We detect the maximum cases of ticket-less travel in general bogies. A majority of them are poor passengers, who do not have money to pay. They are wilful defaulters and many are prepared to spend time in prison,” said a TTE.
“The second category of ticket-less passengers is those who arrive at the station as the train is ready to leave. They will not have the time to buy a ticket and board the train. A majority of these passengers pay the fare along with fine when caught by the squad,” he said. There is also a third category of passengers who travel in sleeper coaches with general tickets, or occasionally with sleeper tickets in higher classes.
Cases detected during the last five years were the highest in Khurda Road division with 2,80,593, followed by Sambalpur with 1,12,129 and Waltair with 49,019.
The year-wise break-up division-wise is: Khurda Road: 19,158 (2012-12), 25,634 (13-14), 44,154 (14-15), 95,837 (15-16) and 95,810 (16-17); Sambalpur: 23,193 (2012-13), 16,537 (13-14), 22,851 (14-15), 26,537 (15-16) and 23,011 (16-17) and Waltair Division: 1,358 (2012-13), 7,413(13-14), 7,501(14-15), 16,577 (15-16) and 2016-17 is 16,170, according to information obtained from E Co R under the RTI Act by Duvvada Railway User’s Association secretary K. Eswar.