Restoring senior citizens’ concession in train fare would not be desirable as the cost of granting concessions weighs heavily on Railways, the Parliament was told on Friday.
Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told the Rajya Sabha in a reply that Indian Railways is already bearing more than 50 per cent of the cost of travel on an average for all passengers, including senior citizens, on account of lower fare structure for passenger services.
He also said that apart from this due to Covid 19, passenger earnings for the last two years are less in comparison to 2019-2020.
“These have long term impact on the financial health of the Railways. Cost of granting concessions weighs heavily on Railways. Hence extending scope of concessions to all categories of passengers including senior citizens is not desirable. In spite of these challenges, Indian Railways has continued concession in fare to four categories of persons with disabilities, and 11 categories of patients and students,” he added.