WR plans major crackdown on ticketless commuters

MUMBAI: Western Railway is creating 'pre-custody areas' for ticketless travelers and using bodycams for ticket checkers to document offenders.

MUMBAI: If you are caught travelling without a valid ticket in local trains and unwilling to pay the fine, you could be placed in a designated ‘pre-custody area’ which is being created by Western Railway on the platforms of railway stations. The ticket-checking staff is also being provided with bodycams that will not only record the conversation with commuters caught without a ticket but also enlist them in a database of ‘habitual offenders’ who might have to pay higher fines.

WR plans major crackdown on ticketless commuters

The trials for the pre-custody areas began earlier last week and their scope is being widened on the Churchgate-Virar-Dahanu suburban corridor. According to WR officials, at present these areas have been created at the prominent stations of Borivali and Andheri. A handful of ticket checkers (TCs) have been equipped with bodycams, which are undergoing trials to check their efficacy in catching ticketless travellers.

“These pre-custody areas have been constituted to stop ticketless passengers from running away,” explained a WR official. “This bunch is usually unwilling to pay a fine when caught and argues with TCs, leading to a waste of time. They will now be asked to wait inside the pre-custody area where other staffers will be waiting to interact with them. They will be explained the relevant rules, and if the problem still persists, a memo will be issued and they will be handed over to the Railway Protection Force.”

On January 23, one such drive was conducted to test the method at a couple of stations while ticket-checking was on. WR caught more than 7,300 people without tickets, which yielded fines amounting to ₹32.16 lakh.

“We will gradually give bodycams to all our TCs, who will then be able to document every interaction with the ticketless travellers,” said another WR official. “We will take details such as their name and mobile number. The data from the bodycams will be saved in our system, and soon we will be able to identify habitual ticketless travellers who have been caught more than four or five times in a short period. The videos will also form evidence under the Railway Act.”

WR authorities are finalising which other documents can be accessed from commuters caught without valid tickets and made a part of the database. Sources said that in all likelihood all the IDs that are sought for booking season passes could be part of the database. The bodycams, the cost of which is around ₹10,000 each, can record up to 10 hours, after which the data will be transferred into the system.