It is good that after the creation of Northern Railways Jammu Division, the largest transport carrier’s Jammu chapter has taken revolutionary steps to curb ticketless travel on trains, as ticket checking has been intensified, making it difficult for people who are habitual of not buying valid tickets to travel without fear of being caught. Reportedly, Northern Railway’s Jammu Division has earned Rs 66.50 lakh through a special ticket-checking drive conducted in just one month of May, 2026. This report has two aspects, the first is that Railways is on its toes to curb ticketless travel, and the second is the prevalent practice of travelling without valid tickets. Ticket checking and realizing fines is alright, but what is the need of the hour is to devise a mechanism through which travelling without a ticket becomes nearly impossible. As there are attendants in first class, AC second class, and AC third class coaches, who take care of the passengers, similar provisions should be made in sleeper-class coaches, and the attendants deployed should be given the responsibility of checking the tickets of passengers when they board the train. With such a provision, it would become easier to identify people travelling without tickets, and in the long run, the culture of ticketless travel will be eliminated. After ensuring that the passengers in all reserved coaches have valid tickets, the need to check general coaches will remain, making things simpler to end the menace of ticketless travelling because it will remove the need for surprise checking, as the scope of ticketless travel will almost end. An attendant will have to check a maximum of 72 passengers in sleeper coaches, which is an achievable target. As far as general coaches are concerned, the Ticket Travelling Examiners (TTEs) can easily monitor the passengers, thereby rooting out the problem. Besides, solutions can be emulated from the set-up of metro networks in the country, where travelling without tickets is not possible. It is the time for the Railways to think out-of-the-box and contain this problem. AI monitoring can also help in curbing the problem. Ticketless travel not only causes financial losses to the Railways but also creates inconvenience for passengers travelling with valid tickets. Therefore, devising a failsafe method to end ticketless travel is the need of the hour. Otherwise also, generating revenue from ticketless travelers should not be the target of the Railways; rather, it should work out a remedy to end this harmful activity by making it nearly impossible to board a train without having a valid ticket. The attendants should not allow any person without a ticket to enter their coaches, which is an attainable goal, as practiced in first-class compartments, where these staffers have passenger details. The cost of deploying additional attendants will be compensated by stopping people from travelling without tickets as the move will automatically increase revenue. Such steps can make train travel more convenient for commuters.
