No, Railways has not reintroduced senior citizen discount scheme; viral message is false

Of late, a claim pertaining to the senior citizen discount scheme in Indian Railways is gathering a lot of traction on social media. As per the claim, the Railways has announced a big relief in fares for senior citizen passengers. It also states that from February 15, 2025, women will be provided a 50% discount while men would be granted a 40% discount on rail tickets. It is also claimed that this scheme was discontinued during the Coronavirus pandemic, and is now being restarted.

X user Sanjay Wadekar amplified the message with similar claims, explaining the benefits of the Railway Senior Citizen Concession Scheme. His X profile shows that he is allegedly a BJP worker and is also associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. (Archived link)

15 फरवरी से सीनियर सिटिज़न को मिलेगा 50% छूट का लाभ, अब लंबी यात्रा होगी सस्ती

February 13, 2025 Devanshu

भारतीय रेलवे ने सीनियर सिटीजन (वरिष्ठ नागरिक) यात्रियों के लिए बड़ी राहत की घोषणा की है। 15 फरवरी 2025 से, महिलाओं को 50% और पुरुषों को 40% की छूट दी जाएगी। यह सुविधा विशेष…

— Sanjay wadekar BJP (@Sanjaywadekar9) February 13, 2025

Instagram account ‘Times Applied Trends’ also promoted the claim about the launch of the discount scheme for senior citizens. (Archived link)

Several other websites such as Appear News and ‘UpexcisePortal.in‘ also amplified this claim. (Archived link 1, link 2)

Fact Check

Alt News dug deeper into these viral claims. However, we could not find any recent press releases or news reports to corroborate the message being circulated currently. 

The press notes uploaded on the IRCTC website on March 20, 2020 state that the ‘Senior Citizen Concession’ has been withdrawn with effect from that day. In addition, the Railway Board circular dated March 19, 2020 mentions that in view of the health advisory issued regarding COVID-19, concessions in passenger fare for all categories of passengers, except four categories of Divyangjans and 11 categories of patients, had been withdrawn till further orders.

According to a story by ABP Live on August 4, 2024, as per PTI inputs, the Union railway minister was asked about the earlier concession on fares provided to senior citizens. Ashwini Vaishnav, while answering in Parliament, said that in 2022-23, the Indian Railways had given a subsidy of Rs. 57,000 crore to provide affordable facilities to the passengers. All passengers were receiving its benefits. However, he did not mention any concession given to senior citizens. He has also argued earlier that there was no plan to provide an exclusive discount to senior citizens.

According to the information available on ERail.in, too, the senior citizen quota has been discontinued. The computerised passenger reservation system (PRS) has a provision to automatically allocate lower berths to senior citizens and female passengers aged 45 years and above, even if no option is given, provided space is available at the time of booking. A combined quota of two lower berths per coach has been fixed in Sleeper, AC 3 Tier and AC 2 Tier classes for senior citizens travelling alone, female passengers aged 45 years and above, and pregnant women.

The Union Budget 2025-26 also does not mention any scheme or policy that provides concessions to senior citizens travelling by train or any plans for the resumption of the scheme.

To sum up, concessions for senior citizens in railway tickets were discontinued in March 2020 during COVID-19, and the scheme has not been restored till now. In other words, the viral message on social media is false.