Errant passengers a headache for railways

BHUBANESWAR: Passengers with reserved tickets often find people with general tickets or without tickets travelling in reserved compartments. Though these errant passengers travel for short distances, the ones with reserved tickets face problems in adjusting with them.
Sankar Prasad Pani, a lawyer, said he faces the problem while travelling in Coromandel Express and Dhauli Express.

"I travel to Kolkata on regular intervals for different cases and I witness this problem between Bhubaneswar and Kolkata," he said, adding, "The defaulters sometimes quarrel with the passengers having reserved tickets. We have to keep quiet because they come in groups."

Ramahari Behera, a trader from Berhampur, faces the same problem. "Trespassers should be stopped from travelling in reserved compartments without proper tickets. It has become a regular affair. They often travel for short distances like from Balasore to Bhadrak or Balugaon to Berhampur," he added.

The East Coast Railway (ECoR) conducts various types of ticket checking which are fortress checks, mid-section or ambush checks, magisterial checks and cross-country checks. Magisterial checks are undertaken by Special Railway Magistrates. In fortress checks, railway officials comb and sanitise the whole station. In cross-country checks, staff of other jurisdictions participate to ensure that even a single passenger does not travel without a ticket.

J P Mishra, ECoR chief spokesperson, said they conduct checks regularly but added it will be further intensified. "During our checks, we found the number of ticketless passengers have gone down due to affordable prices of tickets. However, we have decided to add more general and reserved sleeper coaches in the trains so that wait-listed passengers can be duly accommodated in these coaches," Mishra said.

Keeping this situation in mind, the ECoR has started selling reservation tickets for short distances. Passengers can buy these tickets from the the general ticket counters at Bhubaneswar, Berhampur and Palasa stations and travel in sleeper coaches of express and superfast trains.

The ECoR had started the service in 2011-12 on a pilot basis in Konark Express between Bhubaneswar and Berhampur. After its success, the zone provided this service in other trains as well.