Central Railway has collected more than Rs 100 crore in fines from passengers who were caught travelling without valid tickets between April and August 2025, an official statement said on Tuesday.
According to officials, a total of 17.19 lakh passengers were caught during this five-month period, and fines totalling Rs 100.50 crore were collected. The campaign is part of the Railway’s commitment to ensuring safe, smooth, and fair travel for all passengers.
In August 2025 alone, Central Railway teams caught 2.76 lakh ticketless travellers, an 18 per cent increase compared to August 2024. Fines collected during the month also rose sharply to Rs 13.78 crore, up from Rs 8.85 crore last year, an increase of over 55 per cent.
This follows a strong drive to stop unauthorised and ticketless travel across its network, said an official.
Division-wise fine collection (April-August 2025):
Bhusaval Division: Rs 36.93 crore from 4.34 lakh cases
Mumbai Division: Rs 29.17 crore from 7.03 lakh cases
Nagpur Division: Rs 11.44 crore from 1.85 lakh cases
Pune Division: Rs 10.41 crore from 1.89 lakh cases
Solapur Division: Rs 5.01 crore from 1.04 lakh cases
Headquarters: Rs 7.54 crore from 1.04 lakh cases
The official statement said that in a major move, Central Railway has stopped bookings through Static QR codes on the UTS mobile app. This follows reports of widespread misuse by passengers, especially in suburban trains. Removing the QR code option has helped stop the abuse of paperless ticketing and reduce revenue loss.
In Mumbai, efforts to reduce unauthorised travel in Mumbai AC local trains and First Class coaches have shown good results. The division introduced a WhatsApp number for commuters to report unauthorised travellers, and the response has been positive.
From April to August 2025, Rs 1.68 crore was collected from 59,029 cases in AC local trains and Rs 2.26 crore was collected from 70,900 cases from First Class coaches.
“Central Railway has a zero-tolerance policy for ticketless travel and urges all passengers to buy proper tickets and travel responsibly. Travelling without a valid ticket not only causes inconvenience but also attracts heavy penalties,” said an official.
