45 Million Railway Travellers Went Ticketless In 4 Years
The Indian Railways are expected to earn more than Rs 50,000 crore ($8 billion) over the next financial year, but ticketless travel has cost them almost Rs 2,000 crore ($300 million) over the last four years.
Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu did not hike passenger fares in Rail Budget 2015 but Indian Railways suffer huge losses every year, specifically in terms of passenger train operations. One of the reasons given is low passenger fares.
Losses have been increasing every year; from 10 paise per passenger in 2000-01 to 23 paise in 2012-13, according to the railway ministry.
Nearly 45 million people, or more than the population of Argentina, were caught travelling without tickets or with improper tickets over the last four years, leading to a loss of more than Rs. 1,915 crore.
| Persons Detected Travelling Without Ticket & Improper Tickets (In Million) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zonal Railway | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 (up to June 2014) |
| Central | 1.192 | 1.486 | 1.693 | 0.596 |
| Eastern | 0.634 | 0.694 | 0.743 | 0.208 |
| East Central | 0.747 | 0.917 | 1.018 | 0.371 |
| East Coast | 0.212 | 0.262 | 0.288 | 0.09 |
| Northern | 1.92 | 2.424 | 1.902 | 0.594 |
| North Central | 0.838 | 0.943 | 1.083 | 0.431 |
| North Eastern | 0.7 | 0.829 | 0.881 | 0.356 |
| Northeast Frontier | 0.296 | 0.354 | 0.389 | 0.127 |
| North Western | 0.437 | 0.439 | 0.53 | 0.173 |
| Southern | 0.7 | 0.787 | 0.885 | 0.256 |
| South Central | 1.212 | 1.462 | 1.739 | 0.505 |
| South Eastern | 0.368 | 0.406 | 0.467 | 0.152 |
| South East Central | 0.233 | 0.266 | 0.309 | 0.104 |
| South Western | 0.257 | 0.317 | 0.365 | 0.096 |
| Western | 1.344 | 1.55 | 1.67 | 0.545 |
| West Central | 0.492 | 0.632 | 0.708 | 0.297 |
| TOTAL | 11.582 | 13.768 | 14.67 | 4.901 |
| Amount Of Railway Dues Realised(In Rupees Crore) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zonal Railway | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 (up to June 2014) |
| Central | 56.93 | 70.86 | 84.09 | 31.88 |
| Eastern | 18.26 | 20.58 | 23.32 | 6.84 |
| East Central | 26.36 | 32.56 | 37.86 | 14.59 |
| East Coast | 8.31 | 11.45 | 12.03 | 3.85 |
| Northern | 78.88 | 89.89 | 76.82 | 26.39 |
| North Central | 37.13 | 43.25 | 52.6 | 21.66 |
| North Eastern | 29.85 | 37.1 | 40.8 | 17.68 |
| Northeast Frontier | 15.42 | 19.33 | 22.52 | 8.37 |
| North Western | 16.21 | 16.78 | 20.83 | 7.52 |
| Southern | 27.35 | 31.07 | 36 | 10.59 |
| South Central | 52.04 | 64.09 | 72.91 | 21.15 |
| South Eastern | 14.34 | 16.19 | 19.47 | 6.77 |
| South East Central | 8.5 | 10.12 | 11.83 | 4.21 |
| South Western | 11 | 14.34 | 18.16 | 4.92 |
| Western | 56.06 | 67.44 | 75.44 | 27.06 |
| West Central | 21.2 | 27.56 | 32.72 | 14.39 |
| TOTAL | 477.81 | 572.61 | 637.4 | 227.87 |
Source: Lok Sabha
Northern Railway topped the list in 2013-14, with more than 1.9 million people travelling without tickets or with improper tickets.
Central zone lost the maximum amount (Rs 84 crore) from ticketless travel in 2013-14, followed by Northern (Rs. 76.82 crore) and Western (Rs. 75.44 crore) zones.
Ticketing Initiatives in Rail Budget 2015 •Operation Five Minutes will ensure that a passenger travelling in an unreserved class can purchase a ticket within 5 minutes. The government will provide modified ‘hot buttons’, coin vending machines and ‘single destination teller’ windows that will reduce the transaction time. •A special initiative is being launched for differently-abled travellers whereby they can purchase concessional e-tickets after one-time registration. •The government has also proposed to work towards developing a multi-lingual e-ticketing portal. The government will also move towards crediting all refunds through the banking system. •The government has already started a pilot project of issuing unreserved tickets on smart phones in the suburban sections of Central Railway, Western Railway and Southern Railway. The plan is to extend the project to all stations. •Automatic ticket vending machines with smart cards and currency options have also been installed at many stations. It is proposed to increase this further and also introduce debit card operated machines. |
Source: Railway Budget 2015
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