Railway staff ignore advice, travel free
’Siddharth Prabhakar | TNN | Updated: Mar 18, 2018, 07:38 IST
Railway staff with union cards remain in coaches while people with tickets travel on footboard, say commuters
CHENNAI: Five months after the Chennai division of Southern Railway issued a circular instructing railway staff to avoid ticket-less travel on suburban trains, little has changed on the ground, say commuters.
The division has been continuously receiving complaints about people carrying cards of railway employee unions and travelling without tickets in first class coaches.
The circular was issued by the commercial department on October 21 requesting the railway staff to travel with valid travel ticket failing which they would be liable for prosecution or fine. Priority of space should also be given to passengers with tickets, the circular stated.
Ticketless travel by railway staff is particluarly rampan on the Chennai Beach-Tambaram-Chengalpet section which caters to around 5 lakh passengers daily. Crowds during the peak hours on trains in both directions are unmanageable as trains are the fastest mode of transport to the city from suburbs like Guduvanchery, Vandalur and Chengalpet.
“Anybody carrying a card with the label of Southern Railway Mazdoor Union (SRMU) travels in first class. Passengers like us who pay money to buy season tickets suffer. Ticket checking squads who are supposed to crackdown on this are absent,” said V Vinothkumar, a working professional who travels from Vandalur to Guindy every day. “Therefore, these commuters have to travel on foot-board which is very risky,” he said. SRMU is the sole recognised employees union of Southern Railway zone. Earlier, there have been complaints about its members travelling in AC compartments of express trains on the Arakkonam-Chennai section without valid tickets.
SRMU divisional secretary Paul Maxwell Johnson said such erring employees were very few. “Sometimes an engineering department personnel have to rush from Egmore to Saidapet for rectifying a defect. He might not be given the Emergency Duty Pass (EDP) and might travel ticket-less with his heavy tools,” he said. A railway official said regular checks are being conducted by squads, but admitted that no erring employees have been penalised so far.
’Siddharth Prabhakar | TNN | Updated: Mar 18, 2018, 07:38 IST
Railway staff with union cards remain in coaches while people with tickets travel on footboard, say commuters
CHENNAI: Five months after the Chennai division of Southern Railway issued a circular instructing railway staff to avoid ticket-less travel on suburban trains, little has changed on the ground, say commuters.
The division has been continuously receiving complaints about people carrying cards of railway employee unions and travelling without tickets in first class coaches.
The circular was issued by the commercial department on October 21 requesting the railway staff to travel with valid travel ticket failing which they would be liable for prosecution or fine. Priority of space should also be given to passengers with tickets, the circular stated.
Ticketless travel by railway staff is particluarly rampan on the Chennai Beach-Tambaram-Chengalpet section which caters to around 5 lakh passengers daily. Crowds during the peak hours on trains in both directions are unmanageable as trains are the fastest mode of transport to the city from suburbs like Guduvanchery, Vandalur and Chengalpet.
“Anybody carrying a card with the label of Southern Railway Mazdoor Union (SRMU) travels in first class. Passengers like us who pay money to buy season tickets suffer. Ticket checking squads who are supposed to crackdown on this are absent,” said V Vinothkumar, a working professional who travels from Vandalur to Guindy every day. “Therefore, these commuters have to travel on foot-board which is very risky,” he said. SRMU is the sole recognised employees union of Southern Railway zone. Earlier, there have been complaints about its members travelling in AC compartments of express trains on the Arakkonam-Chennai section without valid tickets.
SRMU divisional secretary Paul Maxwell Johnson said such erring employees were very few. “Sometimes an engineering department personnel have to rush from Egmore to Saidapet for rectifying a defect. He might not be given the Emergency Duty Pass (EDP) and might travel ticket-less with his heavy tools,” he said. A railway official said regular checks are being conducted by squads, but admitted that no erring employees have been penalised so far.
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