Railways has made bumper earnings even from passengers without tickets.
In the financial year 2023-24, Central Railway (CR) has collected a revenue of Rs 300 crore from passengers traveling without tickets on its mail, express and local train services.
Through an official statement on Friday, Central Railways said the figure is 12.80 per cent higher than its set annual target of Rs 265.97 crore.
The number of cases involving ticketless passengers and unbooked baggage has increased by 8.38 per cent to 42.63 lakh, it said.
According to the report, out of the six divisions, Mumbai was the highest revenue collecting division for Central Railway. Mumbai division collected Rs 115.29 crore from 20.56 lakh cases.
It was followed by Bhusaval division, which earned Rs 66.33 crore from 8.34 lakh cases. Nagpur division collected Rs 34.52 crore from 5.70 lakh cases.
Whereas Solapur division recovered Rs 34.74 crore from 5.44 lakh cases. Pune division recovered Rs 28.15 crore from 3.74 lakh cases. The headquarters division recovered Rs 20.96 crore from 2.47 lakh cases.
It is interesting to note that three ticket inspectors of Mumbai division, Sunil Nainani, MM Shinde and Dharmendra Kumar have created a record by collecting revenue of Rs 1 crore from ticketless passengers in this financial year.
Sunil Nainani, a member of the mainline flying squad in the Mumbai division of Central Railway, was authorized to check tickets in long distance and local trains from CSMT to Igatpuri.
Nainani said, “I usually work in night shifts. Start my day by taking 3 am train and travel to Igatpuri.
During this time I caught the maximum number of passengers without tickets. I am grateful that my seniors continuously supported my work and helped me during challenging times, as being a ticket checker is not an easy job.
Often we encounter people who do not cooperate. However, I always try to explain to them that traveling without a ticket is wrong. I also tell them how they can now easily buy tickets online.”
Nainani is going to retire next year.
He has worked as a ticket checker for the last 30 years. Initially, he was posted in a separate division of the Central Railway in Mumbai.
He said that for the last three years they have continuously crossed the revenue collection target of Rs 1 crore.