Discounts for Senior Citizens in Trains will resume soon

Discounts in train fares for senior citizens likely to resume soon

The Indian Railways may resume the discounts it offered in fares
before 20 March 2020. Ramesh Chandra Ratna, chairman of the Railway
Board's Passenger Service Committee, said that the Railways is now
preparing to start many other facilities as well. Railway Minister
Ashwini Vaishnav is studying it. It is expected that many concessions
including those for senior citizens will start soon.

Talking to Zee News about this, Ramesh Chandra Ratna, Chairman of
Railway Board's Passenger Service Committee said that due to
coronavirus, the Railways had stopped the concessions given to the
senior citizen, but now there is a possibility that in the future, the
discount on train fare will resume.

"The feedback we got during the inspection of railway facilities will
be kept in the railway board meeting on December 28. In this matter,
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav ji is reviewing with great speed,"
he said.

Indian Railways used to provide many concessions to senior citizens
before the pandemic. Earlier, women used to get 50 percent discount in
rail fares and there was 40 percent concession for men. For this, the
minimum age limit should be 58 years for women and 60 years for men.
In July 2016, the Railways made the exemption given to the elderly
optional while booking tickets. After that, after 20 March 2020, this
exemption was suspended due to the lockdown in wake of coronavirus.

During this period, about four crore senior citizens had to pay the
full fare for their journey. This information has come to the fore
through an RTI. In response to RTI, Railways has said that between
March 22, 2020 to September 2021, 3,78 50,668 senior citizens have
travelled in trains.

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Dr P Vyasamoorthy / 9490804278