Indian Railways Offers Concession On Select Tickets: 10 Things To Know

For online tickets done via IRCTC's website/app, users have the option of availing senior citizens concession only.

Indian Railways offers concessions on ticket prices to 53 different categories, the quantum of which ranges from 10 percent to 100 percent. These reductions in fares are available for senior citizens, disabled passengers, patients, students, war widows, among others, noted Indian Railways’ on it’s portal- indianrail.gov.in. Concession tickets are issued on demand made through the option in the reservation form.

For online tickets done via IRCTC (Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation) website/app, users have the option of availing senior citizens concession only. Other concession tickets can be availed at the Passenger Reservation System (PRS) counters at any Indian Railways reservation office.

Here are 10 things to know about Indian Railways’ concession rules:

1. According to Indian Railways, only one type of concession is admissible at a time at the choice of passenger and no person is allowed two or more concessions simultaneously.
2. The concession is admissible on basic mail/express/ Rajdhani/Shatabdi/etc fares only and not on ‘ordinary’ fares applicable to passenger trains, superfast surcharge and Goods and Service Tax (GST) tax etc, noted Indian Railways.
3. Some of the concessions are admissible subject to the minimum distance of the journey.
4. The holder of a concession ticket is not permitted to change the ticket to a higher class even by paying the difference of actual fares, noted Indian Railways.
5. The concession is not admissible in season tickets, circular journey tickets and in trains with separate all-inclusive fare structure like Gatimaan Express, Humsafar Express.
6. All types of concessions can be availed only when tickets are purchased online or across the counter at stations, reservation/ booking offices etc. No one is granted concession on the train, mentioned Indian Railways.
7. Except for senior citizens, concessions on tickets are admissible on production of the requisite certificate from the concerned person/organization in India. The documents issued by persons/organizations in other countries are not considered valid for the purpose of concession in India, as mentioned by Indian Railways.
8. Concession is not admissible for a journey where the cost of travel is borne by central/state governments/ local bodies/ corporations or government undertakings, universities, etc.
9. Break of journey en-route is not allowed on a concession ticket for a journey for a specific purpose. It is allowed only where a break of journey is a natural event.
10. In certain cases where concession is admissible in first class but not in AC 2-tier, concession tickets for AC 2- tier can be purchased on payment of concessional fare for first class plus the difference of actual fare of first class and AC 2-tier, noted Indian Railways.