Representative image of Indian Railways.
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New Delhi: The Railways on Friday launched a special drive to curb the menace of ticketless travelling and facilitate comfortable journey to genuine passengers during the upcoming festival season.
The Railway Board has circulated a written communication to principal chief commercial managers (PCCMs) of all zonal railways suggesting various steps in this regard.
“A special ticket checking drive may be launched for the period 20.10.2023 to 27.11.2023. Suitable action may be taken against passengers found travelling without valid travel authority/ ticket as per the provisions of the Railways Act, 1989,” the letter read.
“Special emphasis may be given during this period on checking the accommodation released out of Emergency Quota and reserved accommodation obtained against specific quotas like senior citizen, cancer patients, etc., to keep a check on its misuse,” it added.
The Board has advised the zones to instruct the ticket checking staff to ascertain the genuineness of passengers by checking valid prescribed proof of identity.
“Zonal Railways should nominate senior level officers to monitor these drives at divisional as well as zonal level,” the Board said directing the PCCMs to positively send it the feedback of the drive by December 12.
The Board has also asked the zones to facilitate in ticket booking by ensuring proper functioning of counters, opening of additional counters as per local requirements and operationalisation of all available automatic ticket vending machines (ATVMs).
“Passengers intending to book tickets through ATVMs should not be prevented by the facilitators,” the Board said.
“Public address system should be used for spreading awareness regarding travelling with valid authority/ticket and booking tickets through authorised agents/ UTS or on mobile app/IRCTC website,” it added.