Railways to offer unutilised berths under ladies quota to women passengers, senior citizens on wait-list

New Delhi: Indian railways has decided to offer unutilised berths in trains under the ladies quota first to women passengers on the waiting list and then to senior citizens.

Confirming via tweet, Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal wrote:

Railways to offer unutilised berths in trains under ladies quota first to women passengers on waiting list & then to senior citizens. In case of a vacant berth, ticket checking staff can allot it to other lady passengers, making travel easier for women passengers. pic.twitter.com/0cYKhEt4iB — Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) March 2, 2018

Currently, the quota remains open for booking till the time of preparation of the reservation chart. Aafter that, the unutilised quota is released to the wait-listed passengers, irrespective of their gender.

According to the Railway ministry circular, at the time of preparing the chart, the unutilised quota for female passengers will be released first to the wait-listed female passengers, followed by senior citizens.

The circular further said that if there are no such passengers and the berths are left vacant, the on-board ticket checking staff shall be authorised to allot this accommodation to any other lady passenger/senior citizen.

Currently, in all trains with reserved sleeping accommodation, a combined quota of six lower berths per sleeper-class coach and three lower berths per AC 3-tier and AC 2-tier coach is available for senior citizens, female passengers of 45 years of age and above and pregnant women.

In Rajdhani, Duronto and fully air-conditioned or express trains, four lower berths are earmarked under this quota in AC 3-tier coaches.