The Prayagraj railway division has fined more than 400 police personnel for travelling without tickets on several mail and express trains in the last month and a half at various places between Ghaziabad and Kanpur, officials said.

The traffic officers conducting these special drives found most of the police personnel travelling without tickets in air-conditioned coaches and pantry cars, causing inconvenience to passengers.

Shashi Kant Tripathi, Chief Public Relations Officer, North Central Railway, said the Indian Railways regularly conducts drives to check unauthorised travellers.

"Without-ticket travellers not only cause inconvenience to passengers but also financial loss to the railway. Hence, we have adopted strict measures to check unauthorised travelling of every individual and we have been quite successful in our efforts," Tripathi said.

Santosh Kumar, zonal secretary of the Indian Railway Ticket Checking Staff Organisation, NCR zone, said many police personnel misuse their official position, enter air-conditioned coaches and lie down on empty berths, "They do not vacate the berths for authorised passengers and even threaten them as well as railway officials," Kumar said.

He said the special drive has received a positive feedback from passengers who have appreciated the initiative and cooperated with railway officials. The drive has been led by Amit Sudarshan, Deputy Chief Traffic Manager, and assisted by Assistant Traffic Manager Dinesh Kapil and other officers.

One of the railway officials said many of these police personnel threatened the traffic officers and ticket examiners of dire consequences if they are fined.

"Though the higher-ups in the Uttar Pradesh police department have issued cautionary letters and circulars asking police personnel not to travel on trains without tickets, it seems that these letters have had little impact on them," another railway official said.

"These police personnel think that no one will report to the higher-ups about their misconduct and so they can carry on with their activities," he added.

According to Kumar, initially, these police personnel tried to intimidate commercial officers but when the latter started recording their activities on the phone and became adamant to issue challans as well as report their wrongdoings to their departments, they started pleading for mercy.

"Many of them fled from one coach to another to skip the fine," Kumar said.

According to the railway officials, the drive will be carried on throughout the festive season so that authorised passengers do not suffer.

"Even after the festivals, we will conduct surprise checks occasionally to curb such activities," a railway official said.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.