Question : ABSENCE OF TICKET COLLECTORS .

(a) the criteria/guidelines governing posting of Ticket Collectors at various Railway Stations;

(b) whether the Railways are aware that no Ticket Collectors have been posted at various railway stations including stations between Itwari and Rajnandgaon;

(c) if so, the details of railway stations which are not having ticket collectors, the reasons thereof and action taken by the Railways in this regard;

(d) whether the absence of Ticket Collectors has resulted in loss of revenue to the Railways; and

(e) if so, the details thereof and the estimated amount of loss incurred to the Railways during the last three years and the current year as a result thereof?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI MANOJ SINHA)

(a): As per extant guidelines for deployment of Ticket Collectors at Railway Stations, one stationary ticket checking staff (Ticket Collector) is posted per 1000 passengers.

(b)&(c): Ticket collectors are posted depending upon the volume of passenger traffic and number of trains handled at each railway station. At present, there are more than 6400 vacancies in the category of ticket checking staff. Owing to shortage of ticket checking staff, some stations on Indian Railways are not manned by Ticket Collectors. Centralised data of Railway Stations which do not have Ticket Collectors is not maintained. On South East Central Railway, 17 ticket collectors have been posted between Itwari and Rajnanadgaon stations, depending upon criterion

(d)&(e): The loss of revenue caused on account of shortage of ticket collectors is not quantifiable. However, with a view to keep a check on ticketless travel and to avoid leakage of revenue, following steps have been taken:

(i) Instructions have been issued to Zonal Railways for filling up the vacancies in the ticket checking cadre.

(ii) Additional posts of 2500 ticket checking staff have been sanctioned.

(iii) Regular and surprise checks are conducted by ensuring optimal utilisation of available ticket checking staff.

(iv) Instructions have also been issued to ensure manning of railway stations’ gates and collection of tickets at stations regularly.

(v) During the last three financial years, the revenue earned on account of ticketless/ irregular travel/unbooked luggage has been as under

 Financial Year	Revenue arned from ticketless/	irregular ravel/unbooked luggage	(Rs.In crores) 2011-12	529 2012-13	623 2013-14	688 2014-15(upto May) 150