Indian Railways could soon be restoring the concessions for senior citizens. However, there could be some changes in the eligibility criteria to avail concessional fares. The Railway Board is likely to change the age limit for senior citizens and also to restrict the concession to only a few classes of tickets. Earlier the concession was available for senior citizens across all classes,
According to reports, the Railway Board is contemplating to offer the concession to the senior citizens who are 7-year old or above only for the general and sleeper classes. The idea is to offset the cost of these concessions while retaining the subsidy for senior citizens. However, the terms and conditions haven’t been finalised yet.
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“We understand that these concessions help the elderly and we never said we were going to scrap it completely. We are reviewing it and will make a decision on it. The logic is that if we limit it to the sleeper and general classes, we cover 70 percent of travellers. These are just some of the options we are considering, and nothing has been finalized,” a source was quoted as saying by Zeenews.
Before March 2020, the senior citizen concessions were available for women aged 58 and above and men aged 60 and above. Under the scheme women could avail a discount of 50 per cent and male were allowed 40 per cent concession on the ticket price across all classes. However, after the outbreak of the pandemic, Indian Railways withdrew the subsidised rates.
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Indian Railways is also planning to introduce the Premium Tatkal scheme for all trains in the near future. This will help the railways to increase their earnings. At present, the scheme is only applicable to about 80 trains across the country. A few seats are reserved in these 80 trains under this category with dynamic pricing. This quota is for the convenience of last-minute travellers who can book tickets by paying a little extra. The Premium Tatkal fare includes the additional Tatkal charge along with the basic ticket fare.
