Mumbai: The Central Railway has embarked on an intense ticket-checking drive on railway locals to tackle Ticketless travel with fortress checks during rush hours at the stations.

On Monday, within a six-hour span, officials caught 1,148 ticketless travellers and imposed penalties totalling Rs3,58,795 at three stations, including Thane, Dombivali and Vashi.

At Thane and Vashi stations, 50 railway staff (25 at each station) Including Ticket Checkers and security personnel were deployed, while at Dombivali 16 were stationed to check the commuters. The staff caught 449 people travelling without a proper ticket between 4 pm to 10 pm only at Vashi, 451 were caught at Thane station, while, 248 people were caught at Dombivali in the same time frame.

Similar checks continued on Tuesday at Reay Road station during morning rush hours. The squad of 19 including ticket checkers and security personnel deployed at the station caught 177 people for ticketless travel.

CR’s top brass has directed the officials concerned to organise more such checks at other stations as well, according to a source. “This is just the beginning. Our target is to cover all major stations to curb ticketless travel,” said a CR ticket checker.

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Regular commuters have welcomed the move. “It's a very good initiative, the Railways need to check each and every person, it will not only prove helpful to reduce the unwanted crowd but also increase their earning,” said Dombivali resident Vijeta Kadam.

“During rush hours many ordinary and first class pass holders travel in AC local trains, the Railways should target them too,” opined Rajhans Pandey, an advocate from Kalyan.

Under this kind of fortress check, a large number of ticket checking personnel are deployed at all entry and exit points of the stations and platforms along with a substantial strength of security personnel from the Railway Protection Force (RPF). Senior Commercial Officers actively monitor such fortress checks to nab ticketless travellers.

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