1k passengers fined for travelling without ticket

Patna: In a major crackdown on ticketless travel, the Danapur division of the East Central Railway (ECR) carried out an intensive ticket-checking drive on the Patna-Gaya rail section on Wednesday. The drive resulted in the detection of 1,015 passengers travelling without valid tickets.
According to the Danapur senior divisional commercial manager Abhinav Siddarth, the massive drive yielded a total fine collection of Rs 2.85 lakh from the offenders. "The operation was part of the railway's ongoing efforts to curb revenue loss and ensure disciplined travel across its network," he said, adding that the drive was carried out in 13 passenger trains passing through the Patna-Gaya rail route by a special carriage known as ‘Lal Gari'.
Danapur divisional railway manager Jayant Kumar Choudhary told this newspaper that such surprise drives will continue in the future to deter ticketless travel and improve passenger compliance. "Travelling without a valid ticket is a punishable offence under the Railway Act. These checks not only ensure fairness to the paying passengers but also boost the revenue needed for better services," he said.