Ticketless travel in trains increased by an alarming 22% in the last three years

Responding to a written question, minister of state for Railways, Rajen Gohain, told Rajya Sabha that the majority of ticketless travellers were from the Northern Railways.

Ticketless travel in trains increased by an alarming 22% in the last three years.

A railway employee returns change to a passenger at a railway booking counter in Allahabad. (Reuters File Photo)

Responding to a written question, minister of state for Railways, Rajen Gohain, told Rajya Sabha that the majority of offenders were from the Northern Railways. “Almost 71 lakh passengers travelled without tickets during 2014-2017 from this railway zone. The South Central Railways (70 lakh) took the second spot. Overall, the number of ticketless travellers jumped from 1.66 crore in 2014-15 to 2.03 crore in 2016-17.

Until 2014-15, Railways recovered ₹25.53 crore from ticketless travellers, said Gohain. Until June this year, ₹3.32 crore has been recovered travellers.