Northeast Frontier Railway collects over Rs 66 cr from special drives against ticketless passengers

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• May 20, 2024 | Pinaki Goswami

NFR officials highlighted the legal implications for those traveling without proper tickets or beyond authorized distances...

Digital Desk: The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has successfully recovered a substantial amount of Rs. 66.27 crore through rigorous ticket-checking drives aimed at fighting ticketless travel. These special drives are part of NFR’s ongoing efforts to ensure hassle-free, comfortable travel and better services for all legitimate passengers.

During the current financial year, from April 1, 2024, to May 19, 2024, NFR’s intensive ticket-checking operations resulted in the recovery of more than Rs. 10.65 crore from ticketless travelers. This initiative is designed to discourage the practice of traveling without proper tickets, which causes inconvenience to genuine passengers.

The previous financial year, from April 2023 to March 2024, saw the detection of 793,170 cases of ticketless or irregular ticket passengers. These cases generated over Rs. 66.27 crore in fare and penalties from offenders. In comparison, the preceding financial year of 2022-2023 realized Rs. 62.98 crore from 778,808 detected cases. This marks a 5.23 percent increase in earnings from penalties and fares, with 14,362 more cases detected during 2023-2024.

NFR officials highlighted the legal implications for those traveling without proper tickets or beyond authorized distances. Passengers who fail or refuse to pay the required fare and excess charges on demand will face prosecution under relevant sections of The Railways Act, 1989.

To enhance convenience and accessibility, NFR encourages the general public to travel with proper and valid tickets and to carry valid identity cards. Passengers now have the option to purchase unreserved tickets through the Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) mobile application, available on both Android and Apple app stores.

NFR’s continued efforts to maintain integrity and efficiency in railway travel underscore its commitment to providing a seamless travel experience for all passengers.