The Western Railway is set to expand its squad of TCs

The WR had received several complaints of alleged ticketless travellers, and to catch them and prevent overcrowding, the WR launched the ticket checking squads in May

Within a fortnight, the Western Railways’ ticket checking squads are to be expanded to cover more AC local trains. From May 23, when the initiative was launched, till July 2 the squads have caught over 6,899 ticketless commuters and collected fines adding up to ₹20.97 lakh. Every day, a team of 15 ticket checking squads catches more than 168 commuters travelling without valid tickets or season passes inside the air-conditioned (AC) local trains on the Western Railway (WR). This squad works an average of 7-9 hours per day, including the peak hours in the morning and evening.

Mumbai, India - January 30, 2020: People travel from Central Railways first Air conditioned EMU local train which goes from Panvel to Thane in Mumbai, India, on Thursday, January 30, 2020. (Photo by Pratik Chorge/Hindustan Times) (Pratik Chorge/HT Photo)

A WR official said that the squad caught 564 ticketless commuters in the past week. The ticket checking staff boarded the train from Virar or Borivali in the morning peak hours, and passengers with tickets welcomed the initiative, the official added.

Officials compared the number of ticketless passengers caught and concluded that an average of 189 people were caught per day in the last week of June, a slight increase from the average of 168 people caught per day since the initiative was launched.

Senior officials said that many ticketless passengers were caught along the Virar-Dadar route in the morning peak hours between 7:15am and 10:15am. In the evenings, between 6pm and 9pm, many are caught travelling ticketless on the Dadar-Bhayandar route.

The WR had received several complaints of alleged ticketless travellers, and to catch them and prevent overcrowding, the WR launched the ticket checking squads. Officials said that the average punctuality of a non-AC local was 94%, whereas AC locals were running at 86% punctuality, a number that dipped further during peak hours. The delays had a cascading effect on the timetable of the suburban trains.

Railway passenger associations have welcomed the move. “Those without tickets inside AC locals have become a menace. People with AC tickets and season passes do not get seats because of them,” said Kailash Verma, president, Maharashtra Railway Commuters Council.