RailOne App Loophole Lets Commuters Buy Tickets After Boarding, Triggers Ticketless Travel

Ticketless travel on the railways, despite several fencing arrangements, continues to highlight gaps in safeguards. Recently, a glitch in the newly launched RailOne ticketing app has sparked major concerns. The bug left Central Railway (CR) officials scrambling, especially due to the lack of surveillance at some of the busiest stations and during mid-journeys.

Now, defying geo-fencing regulations, passengers were able to book unreserved tickets even on a moving local train. The ticketing app, developed by the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS), was meant to handle the rush by allowing ticket purchases only within station premises. The flaw, however, has been occurring since early March and is severely affecting Mumbai's suburban rail network, which was already strained by overcrowding and frequent delays, as reported by Hindustan Times.

During a routine ticket-checking drive on a Kalyan-bound AC local, officials reported finding passengers with tickets booked mid-ride. “The RailOne app's geo-fencing feature, designed to prevent such misuse, has failed entirely. The geo-fencing system is designed to allow ticket booking only when a passenger is physically present at a station or within a designated zone. Its failure effectively reopens a loophole that we had earlier attempted to plug,” said a CR official to HT.

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Concerns Raised By Commuter Representatives

According to Hindustan Times, Rajiv Singhal, a member of the Divisional Railway Users Consultative Committee, a commuter body appointed by the Indian Railways, suggested that the system should allow commuters to book tickets while waiting on platforms but block access once a train departs.

“The majority of those caught without tickets are inside AC locals, for which the railway administration carried out drives. I had raised this issue, but the rail authorities explained that the airwaves used to generate signals for these apps have a certain range and cannot be restricted to station premises,” he added. However, it is still true that one of the main causes of the disruption in the suburban train schedule is the AC local trains.

The Impact Of RailOne's Flaw

Ticketless travel leads to:

• Overcrowding
• Poor punctuality of AC local trains
• Rajiv pointed out that trains are delayed by an average of 10 to 15 minutes every day, which affects commuter movement, particularly during morning and evening peak hours.
• The Main and Harbour lines on CR are the worst hit.

Real Reasons Behind Delays

Subhash Talekar, president of the Mumbai Dabbawala Association, said, “Passengers have become so used to delays that they no longer react.”

According to commuters, several factors contribute to delays during peak hours. These include:

• Little or no prior announcement of rail blocks or speed restrictions
• Signal failures
• Trespassing incidents
• Maintenance work on the tracks
• Fewer AC locals
• Infrastructure constraints

However, another official stated, "At this point, various works will take another two to four years to complete." Moreover, we are running the trains at maximum output with little breathing space,” as per Hindustan Times.

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The resolution of the flaw in the ticketing app is now crucial, as it will introduce stronger safeguards for railway travel.