In the past four years, Indian Railways experienced a significant revenue increase from senior citizens following the withdrawal of fare concessions, as revealed by responses under the Right to Information Act.
These details were scooped out by Madhya Pradesh-based Chandra Shekhar Gaur.
He said, “I filed three applications under the RTI Act. In the first application, the Railways provided me additional revenue data from March 20, 2020 to March 31, 2022. In the second application, it gave me data from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023. Since I filed the third application in February 2024, I got the data from April 1, 2023 to January 31, 2024,”
Withdrawal of Concessions and Revenue Gains
On March 20, 2020, the Railway Ministry eliminated fare concessions for senior citizens amid the Covid-19 lockdown. Before this, female passengers received a 50% concession, while males and transgender passengers received a 40% discount. Since then, seniors have paid full fare, resulting in a notable revenue surge for the Railways.
He said, “Calculating 50 per cent concession for female and 40 per cent for male and transgenders senior citizen passengers gives a figure of over 5875 crore,”
Chandra Shekhar Gaur who filed multiple RTI applications, disclosed that the Railways earned over Rs 5,875 crore in additional revenue from senior citizens between March 20, 2020, and January 31, 2024.
Despite inquiries about restoring concessions, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw emphasized the 55% discount offered to all passengers.
