Feedback on Ticketing Touts
In 2016, because of your active reporting, several leaks were plugged to minimise activities of touts in railway ticketing. You had also outlined the key issues, root causes and solutions in regards to ticketing touts.
We would like to seek your inputs to find out if you have recently experienced incidences of touting during your bookings and travels.
Ticketing Touts - Key Solutions
1. The GRP and RPF should be instructed to keep a strict vigil on the stations and make sure that there are no touts operating
2. CCTV cameras could be place strategically around the booking windows to catch these touts
3. Any GRP or RPF personnel found colluding with these ticketing touts should be immediately suspended
4. Any railway ticketing official found to be in nexus with touts should be terminated from the job
5. Complete change of names on the tickets should not be permitted
6. The illegal software being used by touts to book tickets should be identified and blocked
7. The IRCTC online booking form should be made ‘copy/paste-proof’ so that the touts become unable to use the information pasting software to grab tickets
8. If IRCTC cannot disable tout bookings through specialized software they should make those features part of standard booking procedure
9. The number of free seats in every coach should be displayed outside the coach to prevent the TTEs from selling them without reporting the revenue
10. The railway ticketing rules should be re-analysed from the perspective of plugging loop holes
11. Passengers should also refrain from paying extra money to touts to get tickets
12. The system of VIP quota should be abolished and merged with tatkal so that the touts are not able to get their hands on them
13. Emergency Quota (EQ) booking process should be made transparent with clear requirements identified and process made available online
14. Authorization of empty seats/berths ticket allocation of WL/RAC seats to be taken away from TTE.
Ticketing Touts - Root Causes
1. Touts bribe the RPF to get on to the platform and offer their services to the passengers
2. Touts collude with the ticketing officials and give them commission on each waitlisted ticket that they get confirmed
3. Touts also make arrangement with the TTEs and offer them money to allot seats to their passengers
4. The ticket issuing officers also try to make extra money by offering empty VIP seats to the touts
5. Touts find loopholes and manipulate the railway ticketing rules in their favour
6. Passengers don’t mind paying the extra money to get a confirmed ticket
7. Many people take pride in saying that they know touts who can get a confirmed ticket any time
8. Senior rail officials though fully aware of this unholy alliance pretend to look other way
9. Lack of proper vigilance around the booking counter
10. Railway authorities have not been pro-active in handling the tout menace
11. Touts take advantage of the fact that the availability to tickets is far lesser than the demand.
Ticketing Touts - Key Issues
1. Touts can be found on major stations selling tickets at a premium
2. Touts take money to get waitlisted tickets confirmed
3. Touts make people travel on tickets which are not on their names
4. Touts use illegal software to book tatkal tickets in bulk
5. Touts enter multiple passengers/ticket details together in an excel sheet and run some kind of script on that excel at the tatkal opening hours. The scripts allows them to book many number of tickets at one go with auto payment facility
6. Touts collude with the ticket booking officers to book VIP tickets for passengers at a premium
7. Some touts also bribe the TTE to offer seats to passengers with no ticket
8. Touts get a name change done on pre-booked tickets and sell the tickets at a high price
9. Some touts have blank MP letterheads which they use to avail Emergency Quota and make money. more
We would like to seek your inputs to find out if you have recently experienced incidences of touting during your bookings and travels.
Ticketing Touts - Key Solutions
1. The GRP and RPF should be instructed to keep a strict vigil on the stations and make sure that there are no touts operating
2. CCTV cameras could be place strategically around the booking windows to catch these touts
3. Any GRP or RPF personnel found colluding with these ticketing touts should be immediately suspended
4. Any railway ticketing official found to be in nexus with touts should be terminated from the job
5. Complete change of names on the tickets should not be permitted
6. The illegal software being used by touts to book tickets should be identified and blocked
7. The IRCTC online booking form should be made ‘copy/paste-proof’ so that the touts become unable to use the information pasting software to grab tickets
8. If IRCTC cannot disable tout bookings through specialized software they should make those features part of standard booking procedure
9. The number of free seats in every coach should be displayed outside the coach to prevent the TTEs from selling them without reporting the revenue
10. The railway ticketing rules should be re-analysed from the perspective of plugging loop holes
11. Passengers should also refrain from paying extra money to touts to get tickets
12. The system of VIP quota should be abolished and merged with tatkal so that the touts are not able to get their hands on them
13. Emergency Quota (EQ) booking process should be made transparent with clear requirements identified and process made available online
14. Authorization of empty seats/berths ticket allocation of WL/RAC seats to be taken away from TTE.
Ticketing Touts - Root Causes
1. Touts bribe the RPF to get on to the platform and offer their services to the passengers
2. Touts collude with the ticketing officials and give them commission on each waitlisted ticket that they get confirmed
3. Touts also make arrangement with the TTEs and offer them money to allot seats to their passengers
4. The ticket issuing officers also try to make extra money by offering empty VIP seats to the touts
5. Touts find loopholes and manipulate the railway ticketing rules in their favour
6. Passengers don’t mind paying the extra money to get a confirmed ticket
7. Many people take pride in saying that they know touts who can get a confirmed ticket any time
8. Senior rail officials though fully aware of this unholy alliance pretend to look other way
9. Lack of proper vigilance around the booking counter
10. Railway authorities have not been pro-active in handling the tout menace
11. Touts take advantage of the fact that the availability to tickets is far lesser than the demand.
Ticketing Touts - Key Issues
1. Touts can be found on major stations selling tickets at a premium
2. Touts take money to get waitlisted tickets confirmed
3. Touts make people travel on tickets which are not on their names
4. Touts use illegal software to book tatkal tickets in bulk
5. Touts enter multiple passengers/ticket details together in an excel sheet and run some kind of script on that excel at the tatkal opening hours. The scripts allows them to book many number of tickets at one go with auto payment facility
6. Touts collude with the ticket booking officers to book VIP tickets for passengers at a premium
7. Some touts also bribe the TTE to offer seats to passengers with no ticket
8. Touts get a name change done on pre-booked tickets and sell the tickets at a high price
9. Some touts have blank MP letterheads which they use to avail Emergency Quota and make money. more
Viewed by 16996
View all 313 comments Below 313 comments
I hav ebeen recommending to allot Tatkal ticket by random sampling lottery. That is the only way to stop open loot. No other system shall work in India. If you do not adopt this sytem, one day Supreme Court will do it as it violates fundamental right of equality openly. Better implement yourself, may be a very tough decision for Board as their kamau poot shall be lost and Board never bpothered about nation more
Mar 11
Do not use the Words Ticketing Touts. There are no touts in India. All are fronts or dummies of Railway only selling tickets at a premium and sharing with Railway. Nothing will improve unless our Minister develops courage to take on Babus. So far je has surrendered before Babus and actively patronising them to loot passengers. Under his nose, Board is collecting haffttas from even drug peddlers and bus operators and not allowing trains on some routes. Forget all let Minister tell he has will to take on gang of hard core criminals and goons. Otherwise he should simply go to office and collect his share. more
Mar 10
Make every thing regarding tickets on e governance. Reduce human interferance and spend on e security. Your e ticketing ventures are not well secured so there exists hackers who can buy ticket from unknown websites blocking your eticketing systems. more
Mar 10
Too much of administrative supervision and involvement is not practical in the set up as it is and considering that nothing will work fool proof unless the basic moral fibre of Indians improve. And that is a different story altogether. more
Feb 06
The suggestions are good, but it lacks administrative support. The unfair practice in fixation of the fares is a matter of concern. Let the fares be hiked but should be uniform based on class, instead of dynamic or otherwise. The cancellation fee should not be treated as a fine. more
Feb 06
