Senior Citizen Ticket Concession 2023: According to Railway rules, a male citizen of 60 years and a female citizen of 58 years are considered as senior citizens. Earlier, Railways used to give them concession in fares of every class. This discount was also available in trains like Duronto, Shatabdi, Rajdhani. This concession was 50 percent for female citizens and 40 percent for male citizens. However, during the Corona epidemic, this exemption was stopped by the government. No information has been revealed yet about when the exemption will be given to senior citizens again.
There are two types of coaches in Indian Railways. The first is reserved and the second is non-reserved. Whenever a senior citizen books a ticket in Railways, he is given a lower berth on priority basis. Not only this, if a woman is above 45 years of age then the railway computer system automatically gives her a lower berth. But this priority is given only on the basis of availability.
Seats are reserved for senior citizens
In railway trains in which coaches are reserved, some seats i.e. berths are kept reserved for senior citizens. About 6 lower berths are reserved for senior citizens in each sleeper coach. Women above 45 years of age and pregnant women are also accommodated on these seats only. Whereas Rajdhani, Duronto and Full AC trains have more seats for senior citizens as compared to normal mail and express trains.
Apart from this, some seats are also kept for senior citizens in Mumbai local trains. Senior women citizens are also accommodated here. Talking about facilities, senior citizens are given wheel chairs at major stations.
There may be changes in the rules
Railway Board said that it is planning to provide concessions to senior citizens, in which the idea is to reduce the cost of these concessions while maintaining the subsidy for senior citizens. At present, no terms and conditions have been decided yet.
53% discount is available
According to the information received from the Ministry of Railways, all citizens traveling by train get an average discount of 53 percent on the fare. Apart from this, disabled people, students and patients also get many other concessions.
In which class will the exemption be given?
In the Rajya Sabha, the Railway Minister was asked whether the Railways will again provide the facility of discount on train tickets. On this, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav has said that in 2019-20, Railways has given subsidy of Rs 59,837 crore on passenger tickets. Apart from this, the Standing Committee attached to the Parliament has suggested giving concession in train tickets to senior citizens traveling in sleeper and third AC.
Waiver of subsidy worth Rs 670 crore
Responding to another question by BJP MP Sushil Modi, the minister informed that the revenue due to passenger fare concession to senior citizens during 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 was approximately Rs 1,491 crore, Rs 1,636 crore and Rs 1,667 crore respectively. Was. In 2017-18, subsidy worth Rs 670 crore was waived off for senior citizens in non-AC class trains, while Rs 820 crore was spent on subsidy in AC class. In 2018-19, Rs 714 crore was spent on these concessions in non-AC class and Rs 921 crore was spent in AC class. In 2019-20, the discount for non-AC class was Rs 701 crore, while for AC class it was Rs 965 crore.
