ID proof required for Ac travel

ID proof to be a must for AC rail travel from February

NEW DELHI: Aiming to check misuse of rail tickets, the railways has made it mandatory for all passengers travelling in AC classes to carry an identity proof with them during the journey. The decision will be implemented in all trains across the country from February 15, according to a circular issued by the Railway Board.

As of now, only passengers travelling on Tatkal tickets and e-tickets have to carry original identity proof during the journey. If more than one passenger is travelling on one ticket, any one passenger in a group is required to carry the original ID proof.

"The move is aimed to prevent cases of travelling on transferred tickets," a railway official said, adding that this will check black marketing of rail tickets. Those failing to produce original ID proof will be treated as travelling without ticket and will be charged accordingly, the official said.

The acceptable ID proofs include voter ID issued by Election Commission, PAN card, passport, driving license, Photo ID card having serial number issued by central/state government, nationalized bank passbook with photo, credit card issued by banks with laminated photos, student ID card with photo or Aadhaar card, the official said.

The decision comes in the backdrop of railways finding increasing cases of misuse of tickets like transfer of tickets, black marketing and involvement of touts. During 2010-11, 63,854 such cases were detected and 2,480 people were apprehended. In 2008-09, 20,240 cases of ticket transfer were reported and 2,521 were apprehended, an official said.

Zonal railways have been instructed to publicize the decision to prevent any inconvenience to the public. Also, necessary instructions have been issued to all officials concerned, particularly ticket checking staff. The Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) has been asked to make necessary changes in the software so as to incorporate the message in rail tickets for the benefit of passengers.