Parliament proceedings | Senior citizens not to get back train fare discount

The government on Wednesday said it is not “desirable” to restore concessions on railway tickets given to senior citizens and sports persons as the cost of granting concessions “weighs heavily” on the Railways. Passenger segment over Indian Railways has suffered a recurring loss due to low fare and concessions to different categories of passengers,” Minister of Railways Ashiwini Vaishnaw said in a written reply to Lok Sabha. Cost of granting concessions weighs heavily on the Railways, hence extending scope of concessions to all categories of passengers including senior citizens is not desirable,” he said. The Minister, however, added that in spite of these challenges, Indian Railways has continued concession in fare to four categories of persons with disabilities, eleven categories of patients and students As per the data shared by the Minister, revenue foregone due to concessions in passenger fare to senior citizen passengers for both reserved and unreserved category stood at ₹1,491 crore in 2017-18, ₹1,638 crore in 2018-19 and ₹1,667 crore in 2019-20. “.during 2019-20, 22.62 lakh senior citizen passengers had opted to give up concession scheme in passenger fare and gave up concessions for the sustained development of Railways with better facilities,” the Minister added.