Senior Citizen discount on trains.

We recently returned from a 7 week journey through Southern India. We took eight trains during the trip and always received the 30% senior concession. We were never questioned or asked to see any-kind of proof regarding it.
Some of our tickets were booked through an Indian travel agency and some we booked directly at the station and we always asked for the senior concession.
All of the trains post on the outside of your coach your name and age. Give It a Try!

Are you a senior citizen???

You never mentioned if you were old enough for the discount........

coconut,

Are you saying that one can use the concession even if he/she does not qualify (be old enough)?

The concession is valid for those aged 60 and over. While booking, one has to mention one's name and age on the reservation form, and tick the box against "Sr. Citizen" to avail oneself of the concession. No proof of age is asked for at the time of booking.

Normally, the TTE on the train also does not ask for proof. However, he is well within his rights to ask for age proof if he has doubts.

I am surprised all of India is not doing it as yet.

I just don't think it's worth it, given that the rail tickets are reasonably priced and the railsways is not making a profit.

I understand what you mean; and your statement seems to have been prompted by the title of this thread which suggests that one should try it even if one is not entitled! That's certainly wrong, but if one is indeed 60 or over, then one MUST avail oneself of the facility. Why not ?

Well, it's one perk I'm certainly happy that I CAN'T USE just yet......But when the time comes, I'm going to be waving my "gimme my discount" flag high and proud!!

Just another seven years to go...

I keep forgetting to bring my London Bharatyia Vidya Bhavan student card and use that to claim discount in places.

But, unless anyone can come up with a way to slash the prices of branded electrical goods, India is so cheep I see no need of tricks to screw the system.

David I'm answering a few of other ?'s along with yours.
I definitely qualify for the discount with a few extra years to spare.
Sorry, I didn't make that point clear. It never occurred to me that one would take advantage of the discount if not the correct age.

Taking eight rail trips in 2AC with a couple overnighters tends to add up because of our age we can't (and won't) do the 3 & 4th class sleepers.

As I mentioned I booked quite a few of the eight tickets through a travel agency and (they knew I wasn't of Indian nationality, and they had my age to make the booking ) and discounted the tickets automatically.
We are retired and on a fixed budget but love to travel and I don't feel a bit guilty about using the discount. As I mentioned in my original posting when we went to the train station to book our tickets they could see we were not Indian and that we were older.

Good on ya mate!

If you take the average trip to be 400 Kms.

400 Kms. in 2-tier air con. costs Rs693

(This doesn't include reservation or Super-fast charges as the discount is only available on the basic fare)

Rs693 X 8 journeys = Rs5544

30% of 5544 = Rs1663. (per person)

The savings are the equivalent of getting 2A for the price of 3A, and all you have to do is put a tick in the box.

ALL tourists (60 years & above) are entitled to this discount, (in any class) but must carry proof of age (passport).

The discount is also available on Rajdhani & Shatabdi Express trains.

When purchasing these discounted tickets, you will automatically be given lower berths for sleeping (when available) and females will take priority for lower berths, if you don't want a lower berth, indicate UB (Upper berth) in the 'choice' section of the reservation form.

Understanding Reservation Forms.

You can also use the discount when buying tickets using the ‘Break of Journey’ rules, the combined discounts would probably save about 50% of the basic fare, see the 'Train fares' thread for details of the ‘Break of Journey’ rules.


I have changed the name of the thread to 'Senior Citizen discount on trains.' as this info will be useful to lots of members.

Oh dear . Nasty attack of cynicism some of us had there

Apologies

coconut has been vidicated of any crime or misdemeaner....
unlike this unfortunate lady:

It was my experience that one had to request the lower bunk when booking the ticket as in our case 2AC seat number's were printed on the ticket.
Better safe than sorry
traveling with aloha
the coconut wireless