Guwahti: Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has been conducting regular, intensive ticket-checking drives to ensure hassle-free and comfortable travel for all bonafide passengers. These drives aim to curb ticketless and irregular travel, which causes inconvenience to genuine passengers.

During the period from April to December 2024, a total of 5, 70,141 nos. cases of ticketless or irregular travel were detected. Thus, such checks & drives resulted in revenue earnings of approximately Rs. 48.11 crore through fare realization and penalties imposed on unauthorized travelers.

In the same period, NFR carried out eight surprise ticket-checking drives against unauthorized passengers with the assistance of railway magistrates. As a result, 448 individuals were prosecuted, of which 380 were found violating provisions of the Railways Act. They were fined accordingly, with the total amount collected during these drives amounting to approximately Rs. 2.13 lakh. The fines included fares, penalty charges, and government levies. Passengers travelling without proper tickets or beyond the authorized distance are liable to excess charges and fares. In cases where passengers fail or refuse to pay on demand, they may face prosecution under relevant sections of the Railways Act, 1989.

NFR appeals to the general 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 & iOS platforms.