Since March this year, 43 touts have been rounded up by the Railways. These are your usual suspects who block tickets and then sell them at a premium. But there is another set of people who sell their tickets in a more subtle manner, avoiding easy detection.

The latest buzz-word at ticket counters is Calcutta, Chennai, Patna -- the names of popular destinations. Men will walk past you muttering the names of a couple of places. The minute a person in the queue gives an indication that he or she might be interested in a ticket, the tout gets moving. He takes the person to a shop in Paharganj, makes him comfortable and disappears.

The tout is back after a while with the required number of tickets and the following instructions for the passenger -- you will be travelling under this name and this age. Payment settled, the two part ways.

This new method of touting is proving to be a little difficult for Railway officials and the police to detect.

``We can't really arrest a person for saying Calcutta or Patna,'' says a Railways official. ``When our staff checks reservation counters, they are always on the lookout for touts. Whenever they come across people muttering the names of destinations we pick them up. But in all cases we never find any tickets on them. So other than reprimanding them we really can't do anything.''

Then the railways started following a couple of the ``muttering men''. It led them to some non-descript rooms in Paharganj, where the police jurisdiction begins. According to railway officials, the police have not been very helpful in closing down these operations.

People who haven't come across these touts and have also not managed a ticket are now queuing up at the cancellation counters. There are an increasing number of wannabe holidayers who are hanging around the cancellation counters and requesting people to sell them their ticket instead of cancelling it.

``I have to go to Patna for a wedding and couldn't get confirmed tickets,'' says a man, not identifying himself. ``When I had almost given up hope, someone suggested the cancellation counter. So I came and stood here and within an hour I met a couple who were cancelling their ticket to Patna. I requested them to give me the ticket and they did. Now I will be travelling under another name. It's wrong but I have no choice''.

So far, 176 cases of impersonation have been detected. In all cases, the passenger was travelling on somebody else's ticket.