Wire Centre
RTI Ticket Touting Western Railway: An RTI query has revealed that Western Railway registered 2,885 cases of illegal railway ticket touting between 2021 and 2026, highlighting the persistent challenge of black marketing in railway ticket bookings. However, the railway administration admitted that it does not maintain a consolidated record of arrested touts, agents, or railway employees involved in such offences at the zonal headquarters level. The information was provided to RTI activist Anil Galgali by the Security Department of Western Railway under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005.
RTI Ticket Touting Western Railway – Year-Wise Breakdown of Cases.
According to the official reply, the number of ticket touting cases registered each year is as follows: 684 cases in 2021, 629 in 2022, 655 in 2023, 538 in 2024, 249 in 2025, and 130 so far in 2026. The figures indicate that the Railway Protection Force (RPF) has continued its drive against illegal ticket touting over the past five years, even as the yearly numbers show a marked decline from the 2021 peak to the current year’s count.
RTI Ticket Touting Western Railway – No Consolidated Arrest Data at Zonal Level.
However, when details regarding the number of arrested touts, travel agents, and railway employees were sought, Western Railway stated that such data is not maintained at the zonal headquarters, making it impossible to provide consolidated figures. The gap means that while the volume of registered cases is on record, there is no centralised way to track how many of those cases actually resulted in an arrest or departmental action.
RTI Ticket Touting Western Railway – Activist Demands Centralised Digital Record.
Reacting to the disclosure, RTI activist Anil Galgali said that while thousands of registered cases demonstrate the seriousness of the issue, the absence of a central database of arrests weakens transparency, monitoring, and accountability. He urged the railway administration to maintain a centralised digital record of ticket touting cases, arrests, and departmental action, and to make the information available in the public domain on a regular basis to strengthen public confidence and curb illegal ticket rackets more effectively.