Indian Railways: Facilities Extended to Senior Citizens in Train
FACILITIES EXTENDED TO SENIOR CITIZENS
The following facilities have been extended from time to time to Senior citizens: -
(i) As per rules, male senior citizens of minimum 60 years and lady
senior citizens of minimum 58 years are granted concession in the fares
of all classes of Mail/ Express/ Rajdhani/ Shatabdi/ ,Jan Shatabdi/
Duronto group of trains. The element of concession is 40% for men and
50% for women.
No proof of age is required at the time of purchasing tickets. However,
they are required to carry some documentary proof as prescribed showing
their age or date of birth and have to produce it if demanded by
on-board ticket checking staff. Senior citizens can book reserved
tickets across the reservation counters as well as through internet.
(ii) In the computerized Passenger Reservation System (PRS) there is a provision to allot lower berths to Senior Citizens, Female passengers of 45 years and above automatically, even if no choice is given, subject to availability of accommodation at the time of booking.
(iii) A combined quota of six to seven lower berths per coach in Sleeper
class, four to five lower berths per coach each in Air Conditioned 3
tier (3AC) and three to four lower berths per coach in Air Conditioned 2
tier (2AC) classes (depending on the number of coaches of that class
in the train) has been earmarked for senior citizens, female
passengers 45 years of age and above and pregnant women.
(iv) Accommodation is also earmarked for senior citizens during
specified hours on suburban sections by Central & Western Railways.
(v) Instructions exist for provision of wheel chairs at stations. This
facility is provided, duly escorted by coolies (on payment) as per
present practice. Moreover, Zonal Railways have also been advised to
provide 'Battery Operated Vehicles for persons with disability and Old
Aged Passengers' at Railway Stations on merit - whether free of cost
through commercial publicity route or through 'user pays' route. In
addition, passenger can book e-wheel chairs online through IRCTC portal
www.irctc.co.in.
(vi) To help old and disabled passengers requiring assistance at the
stations and to strengthen the existing services, 'Yatri Mitra Sewa' is
being provided through IRCTC at major stations for enabling passengers
to book wheel chair services cum porter services etc.
(vii) After departure of the train, if there are vacant lower berths
available in the train and if any person with disability booked on the
authority of handicapped concession or a senior citizen or a pregnant
woman, who has been allotted upper/ middle berth, approaches for
allotment of vacant lower berths, the on board Ticket Checking Staff
has been authorized to allot the vacant lower berth to them making
necessary entries in the chart.
(viii) Separate counters are earmarked at various Passenger Reservation
System(PRS) centers for dealing with the reservation requisitions
received from persons with disability, Senior Citizens, Ex. MPs, MLAs,
accredited journalists and freedom fighters, if the average demand per
shift not less than 120 tickets. In case there is no justification for
earmarking of an exclusive counter for any of these categories of
persons including persons with disability or senior citizens, one or two
counters depending upon the total demand are earmarked for dealing with
the reservation requests for all these categories of persons.
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