Central Railway Catches 23.76 Lakh Ticketless Travellers, Collects Rs 141.27 Crore in
Pune/Mumbai, 13 November 2025: Nearly 24 lakh passengers caught without valid tickets between April and October 2025; 95% rise in fines during October alone
Central Railway has intensified its efforts to curb unauthorised and ticketless travel across its network, resulting in record collections and increased enforcement during the ongoing financial year 2025–26.
According to official data, between April and October 2025, Central Railway’s ticket checking teams apprehended 23.76 lakh passengers travelling without tickets or with improper or invalid travel authority an 8% increase compared to 22.09 lakh passengers during the same period in 2024–25.
The intensified checks helped the railway recover ₹141.27 crore as penalty, marking a 14% rise from ₹124.36 crore collected during April–October 2024.
Sharp Rise in October 2025
In October 2025 alone, 3.71 lakh passengers were found travelling without valid tickets, up from 3 lakh in October 2024 a jump of nearly 24%. The fines collected during the month surged to ₹24.81 crore, compared to ₹12.74 crore in October 2024, showing a 95% increase.
Division-Wise Performance (April–October 2025)
Bhusaval Division: ₹51.74 crore from 6.07 lakh cases
Mumbai Division: ₹40.59 crore from 9.63 lakh cases
Nagpur Division: ₹15.62 crore from 2.53 lakh cases
Pune Division: ₹15.57 crore from 2.67 lakh cases
Solapur Division: ₹6.72 crore from 1.41 lakh cases
Headquarters (HQ): ₹11.03 crore from 1.45 lakh cases
Strategic Measures to Curb Irregular Travel
To counter unauthorised travel, Central Railway has adopted a multi-pronged strategy, conducting station checks, ambush checks, fortress checks, intensive checks, and mega ticket-checking drives. These are carried out across Mail/Express, Passenger, and Special trains, as well as suburban services in the Mumbai and Pune divisions.
A dedicated AC Local Ticket Checking Squad has also been introduced in the Mumbai Division to curb irregular travel in AC suburban trains. Central Railway’s Mumbai suburban network operates 1,810 services daily, including 80 AC local services.
The special AC ticket checking squad, equipped with a 24/7 WhatsApp complaint number (7208819987), collects an average of ₹1.19 lakh daily in penalties from around 368 passengers travelling without valid tickets.
Central Railway continues its strict enforcement against ticketless travel to ensure smooth, safe, and fair travel for all passengers.
