MUMBAI: Central Railway has intensified its ticket-checking operations across its network, recovering a staggering Rs.140.8 crores from unauthorised travellers between April and August.

This performance marks a dramatic 40% surge in penalty earnings compared to the same period last year, underscoring the railway administration's zero-tolerance policy toward ticketless travel, a senior official said on Sunday.

During this five-month window, dedicated ticket-checking squads apprehended 18 lakh offenders, translating to an average of roughly 11,000 penalties and Rs.92 lakh collected daily.

Officials attribute the financial leap to a combination of heightened surveillance and the revised minimum penalty for ticketless travel, which doubled from Rs.250 to Rs.500.

Performance varied across divisions, with the Mumbai division leading the tally by recovering Rs.58.5 crores from 8.8 lakh cases.

The Bhusaval division followed with Rs.35.5 crores across 3.4 lakh cases, while Pune and Nagpur divisions secured Rs.16.3 crores and Rs.15.8 crores respectively.

Additionally, the Solapur division and headquarters contributed Rs.6.1 crores and Rs.8.6 crores to the total earnings.

Focusing on the month of August alone, CR collected Rs 19.5 crores, representing a 41% increase over August 2025. Interestingly, this higher revenue came despite a slight dip in total cases detected, dropping from 2.7 lakh in August 2025 to 2.5 lakh in August this year, suggesting that tighter inspections and steeper fines are successfully deterring offenders.

To curb fare evasion, CR has deployed a multi-pronged strategy.

“This includes fortress checks, ambush inspections, station sweeps, and mega drives conducted across mail, express, passenger, special, and suburban trains in the Mumbai and Pune divisions,” said CR chief spokesperson Swapnil Nila.

Railway authorities emphasised that traveling without a valid ticket was an offense under the Railways Act that directly impacted the revenue needed to fund modern passenger amenities, safety upgrades, and infrastructure improvements.