Indian Railway: In major step towards giving relief to senior citizen, Railways is mulling to reinstate concessions for the senior citizen soon. However, this concessions benefit will come with facelifts as there may be some changes in the eligibility criteria for Railways.

Recently, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said on Wednesday that senior citizen concessions in the railways will not be restored for the time being. He claimed that a subsidy of Rs 59,000 crore was given to passenger services last year. The pension and salary bills of public transporters are enormous. Vaishnav was responding to a question in the Lok Sabha from Independent MP from Maharashtra, Navneet Rana, about when the senior citizens’ train travel concession would be restored.

According to media reports, the Indian Railway Board intends to raise the age limit for senior citizens and limit the concession to specific types of tickets. Previously, the concession was available to all categories of senior citizens.

Indian Railways: Senior citizen subsidy

According to sources, the Railway Board plans to give senior citizens aged 70 and up a discount on general and sleeper class tickets. According to the Railways, the goal is to reduce the cost of these concessions while keeping the senior citizen subsidy. The terms and conditions, however, have not yet been finalised.

According to a private source, ‘Railways understands that these concessions benefit the elderly, and we have never stated that we will discontinue them entirely.’ We’re looking into it and will make a decision soon. The logic is that limiting it to sleeper and general class covers 70% of the passengers. These are some of the options we are considering; however, nothing has been decided.

Previously, there was this much of a discount.

Prior to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, senior citizen discounts were available for female passengers aged 58 and up and male passengers aged 60 and up.

According to the Railways’ plan, women passengers would receive a 50% discount on all classes of tickets, while men would receive a 40% discount. Following the outbreak of the pandemic, the Indian Railways discontinued the concessional fares.