Assam: NF Railway earns Rs 34 crore in fines and penalties from April to September 2024

Northeast Frontier (NF) Railway has been actively conducting intensive ticket-checking drives to ensure hassle-free and comfortable travel for all bonafide passengers. These efforts aim to discourage ticketless and irregular travel, ultimately enhancing services and minimising inconvenience for genuine travelers.

A total of 3,96,101 cases of ticketless/irregular ticket passengers were detected between April, 2024 and September 22, 2024, leading to earning worth Rs 34.06 crore towards realisation of fare and penalties from offenders. 

During the corresponding period of the previous financial year from April 2023 to September 22, 2023 the fare and penalties realised was about Rs 33.78 crore from 3,94,076 detected cases. Thus, in comparison with the corresponding period of last year, 0.51 per cent more cases were detected and 0.82 per cent higher earnings has been realised in terms of penalty and fares from offenders, during the current year.

During the month of April - August of the current 2024-25 financial year, three surprise ticket checking drives against unauthorised passengers were carried out with the assistance of railway magistrates to detect passengers travelling without proper journey tickets. 

During the drives, the magistrates prosecuted 167 persons and 161 persons found violating the Railway Act were fined. The fine imposed on these unauthorised passengers includes fares and penalty charges along with government charges. 

The total amount procured out of the three checks has been Rs 10.58 crore travelling without proper ticket or beyond authorised distance may lead to levy of excess charge and fare. In case a passenger fails or refuses to pay the same on demand, he shall be in default of payment and will be prosecuted under relevant sections of The Railways Act, 1989. 

The NF Railway has appealed to the public to travel with proper & valid tickets and carry valid Identity cards in order to avoid inconvenience. Now passengers can purchase unreserved tickets from one part of the country to another through Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) mobile application on their smart phones. The UTS application can be downloaded from both Android and apple app-store.