Mumbai: Railways collect Rs 262 crore in fines from ticketless travellers

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Crores of rupees have been raining in the form of fines on the city's rail lines. While a sum of around Rs 7 crore (Rs 3.51 crore from CR and Rs 3.76 crore from WR) has been recovered from ticketless travellers on the AC local train in one year, the overall ticketless traveller fine collection has gone up to Rs 262 crore across CR and WR.

"On Central Railway, during the financial year 2025-26, Mumbai division's ticket checking teams detected and penalised 16.16 lakh cases of irregular travel in suburban, mail, express trains, including AC locals, and realised Rs 71.31 crore as penalty. This is an increase of 2 per cent in cases and 4 per cent in the amount realised last year. In February, 1.65 lakh cases of irregular travel were detected and an amount of Rs 8.58 crore was realised as penalty," CR chief spokesperson Dr Swapnil Nila said.

"On WR, from April 2025 to February 2026, 30 lakh ticketless/irregular passengers, including unbooked luggage cases, were detected, resulting in the realisation of more than Rs 191 crore, marking 42 per cent increase over last year. In February, almost three lakh cases were detected and about Rs 18.5 crore was recovered, registering more than 10 per cent increase over the previous year," WR chief spokesperson Vineet Abhishek said.

Central Railway cashes in on errant commuters

From AC locals: 1.1 lakh cases Rs 3.51 crore in penalty

From First class coaches: 1.46 lakh cases Rs 4.66 crore in penalty

From Second class coaches: 11.68 lakh cases Rs 58.6 crore in penalty

From difference of fares in Mail & Express trains: 50,809 cases Rs 2.98 crore in penalty

From unbooked luggage: 1.4 lakh cases Rs 1.56 crore in penalty

'Data for the period between April 2025 and February 2026