Indian Railways: Want confirmed lower berths for senior citizens? IRCTC tells you how

When it comes to senior citizens travelling by train, not getting a lower berth can lead to a lot of difficulty. This is what the Indian Railways have to say.

Train travel remains the preferred mode of long-distance travel for most Indians and Indian Railways serve a large number of customers daily. While booking tickets online obviously makes life easy, often it so happens that despite booking under senior citizen category, one gets middle or upper berths, which are difficult for many elderly. So will you get a confirmed lower berth? This is what the Railways had to say.

'Senior citizens should get lower berths'

Last month, a Twitter user had written to Indian Railways and said that IRCTC should correct its procedure. Tagging Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav, the passenger has written, "What logic do you run for seat allocation, I had booked tickets for 3 senior citizens with preference of lower berth, there are 102 berths available, yet allocated berths are middle, upper and side lower. U need to correct same (sic)."

IRCTC's reply

Replying to Jitendra S, IRCTC tweeted, "Sir, Lower berths/Senior Citizen quota berths are only 60 years and above, lower berths earmarked for female age of 45 years and above, when she is single or two passengers (travelling on one ticket)." The IRCTC further said that if there are more than two senior citizens or one is a senior citizen and the other is not a senior citizen, the system will not consider it.

Last year, the Railways had suspended concessional tickets for several categories of people, including senior citizens, to discourage non-essential travel in view of the coronavirus pandemic. The Railways also said that the concessions for senior citizens have been withdrawn as the risk of spread of virus and mortality due to COVID-19 is highest in that category. This has been a bid to discourage non-essential travel.