Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 29 The Southern Railway on Thursday said that its Thiruvananthapuram division conducted special ticket checking drives during the Pooja vacation, detecting 1,671 cases of ticketless travel and imposing over Rs 13 lakh in penalties on the offenders.
The Thiruvananthapuram Division has been conducting special ticket checking drives and intensive station checks to prevent ticketless and irregular travel and ensure a comfortable journey for passengers with valid tickets, a Southern Railway statement said.
“These checks help prevent unauthorised travel in reserved coaches and higher classes, while reinforcing the requirement to hold a valid ticket for the train, class and journey undertaken.
“The drives are systematically planned and conducted by experienced ticket checking personnel, combining enforcement with courteous interaction and passenger guidance. The emphasis is on encouraging proper ticket purchase, protecting the interests of passengers with proper tickets, and maintaining a hassle-free travel environment,” it said.
As part of these efforts, special checks were conducted during the pooja vacation period from October 16 to October 26, 2026, covering regular and special train services.
The checks detected 1,671 cases of ticketless travel and resulted in penalty remittance of Rs 13,07,935, the statement said.
“Two 16-hour special ticket checking drives conducted on October 16-17 and October 21-22 detected 1,037 cases for which a total penalty of Rs 7,62,025 was imposed. Further special checks conducted by the Ernakulam, Kollam, Thiruvananthapuram and Nagercoil ticket checking units on October 25-26 detected 634 cases and resulted in imposition of penalty of Rs 5,45,910,” it said.
The Ernakulam units detected 829 cases and realised Rs 6,96,455 as fine, Kollam detected 336 cases and realised Rs 2,06,880; Thiruvananthapuram detected 352 cases and realised Rs 2,90,795; and Nagercoil detected 154 cases and realised Rs 1,13,805, it added, giving the break-up.
“With these checks, the special ticket checking drives and intensive station checks conducted during the financial year 2026–27, up to October 26, 2026, detected a total of 6,274 cases, with fine collections amounting to Rs 41,61,850,” the statement said.
These included fortress checks at Ernakulam Junction, Thiruvananthapuram Central, Kottayam, Nagercoil Junction, Kollam Junction, Alappuzha, Kayamkulam Junction, Thrissur and Aluva, besides other special drives, it said.
The Southern Railways requested passengers to purchase valid tickets before commencing their journey, ensure that their tickets authorise travel in the train and class concerned, and to cooperate with ticket checking personnel.
“For convenient booking of unreserved tickets, passengers are encouraged to use the RailOne mobile app, with a three per cent benefit available through R-Wallet under the applicable scheme. Passengers are urged to make use of digital ticketing facilities and travel with proper tickets,” it said.
(PTI News)
