Kochi: Ticketless travel brings railways record revenue in fine

Kochi: Ticketless travel on trains is on the rise, but it's also a reason for Thiruvananth-apuram division to cheer, for it helps increase its revenue.

The penalties for offences such as ticketless travel, travelling with exchanged tickets and travelling in higher classes with lower class tickets, brought a record Rs 1.617 crore in March for railways which collected a whopping Rs 11.05 crore in 2018-19 under the head.

Average penalty earning in the division was Rs 1 crore with the division raking in Rs 1.07 crore in February while it was Rs  89 lakh in October.

What helped the division, fighting acute staff shortage, is an incentive-based approach towards human resource management. “Initially we made some serious changes in working of squads by giving them more freedom. However, the quantum leap in penalty earning was missing," said Rajesh Chandran, senior divisional commercial manager.

"Then we changed the approach and appreciated top achievers while motivating underachievers through one-on-one meetings. The result showed off.”

 The daily penalty earning too reflected a rise with the Vigilance squad and the Travelling Ticket Examiners raking in Rs 15 lakh on April 7 towards fine.

Meanwhile, the division recorded an increase in freight earnings during the just-concluded financial year.  It earned Rs 486 crore as freight traffic charges, transporting 4.14 million tonnes of materials.