According to Indian Railways, if there are more than two senior citizens or one senior citizen and other passengers not senior citizen, system will not consider it
Have you selected lower berths option while booking train tickets for senior citizens and still haven’t got one? Here’s why? While responding to a tweet by a passenger, Indian Railways recently clarified on the provision of booking multiple lower berths for senior citizens.
A Twitterati recently asked the question to Indian Railways Seva while tagging Minister of Railways, Ashwini Vaishnaw. He wrote: “Why not put a simple logic that sr citizens should be given lower berth if available. What is logic of all 3 sr citizens not allowed if seats are available. Absurd expecting sr citizens even if accompanied by other passenger will be able to climb upper berth.”
Responding to his tweet, an Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) official wrote: “Sir, Lower berth/Sr. Citizen quota berths are lower berths earmarked only for male age of 60 years and above/female age of 45 years and above, when traveling alone or two passengers ( under mentioned criteria traveling on one ticket.”
In another tweet the official wrote: If there are more than two senior citizens or one senior citizen and other passenger not senior citizen, system will not consider it.”
Not happy with the IRCTC reply, the passenger again asked: “Why not put a simple logic that sr citizens should be given lower berth if available. What is logic of all 3 sr citizens not allowed if seats are available. Absurd expecting sr citizens even if accompanied by other passenger will be able to climb upper berth.”
Last month, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Vaishnaw had said that there is no proposal yet to restore concessions offered to certain categories of people in ticket fares after the facility was stopped due to coronavirus pandemic.
The national transporter offers 51 different types of concessions to a variety of people, including senior citizens who enjoy up to 50 per cent rebate on tickets of all trains. Teachers, war widows, awardees, artists, sportspersons, farmers, medical professionals and youths are among the different classes who enjoy concessional travel.
STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO BOOK TICKET ONLINE THROUGH IRCTC WEBSITE:
- Visit the website at irctc.co.in/nget/train-search
- Fill your source and destination stations
- Select journey date and class of coach
- Click on ‘Find Trains’ option
- A number of options will appear
- Choose the train that suits your requirement
- Click on ‘Availability and Fare’
- The berth fare of the particular train along with the number of available seats on a particular date will be displayed
- Click on ‘Book Now’ if there are seats available
- At this stage, you will be asked to log in to your IRCTC account
- Enter your credentials to login
- Fill in the details of passenger(s) to book the seats
- Pay the fare of the seat(s) to finalise your booking
