If you find it difficult to book a lower berth while traveling via train, you are not alone. Many travelers face this issue. Recently, a netizen took to Twitter to understand the “logic” behind seat allocation and tagged the railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in his tweet. Even though there’s an option to chose the preferred berth, many do not get it easily.
“@IRCTCofficial what logic do you run for seat allocation, I had booked tickets for 3 senior citizens with preference of lower berth , there are 102 berths available, yet allocated berths are middle, upper and side lower. U need to correct same. @AshwiniVaishnaw” Twitter user Jitendra tweeted.
Addressing the grievance, IRCTC explained the concept behind the seat allocation.
“Lower berth/Sr. Citizen quota berths are lower berths earmarked only for male age of 60 years and above/female age of 45 years and above, when traveling alone or two passengers ( under mentioned criteria traveling on one ticket,” IRCTC replied, adding that “If there are more than two senior citizens or one senior citizen and other passenger not senior citizen , system will not consider it.”
If there are more than two senior citizens or one senior citizen and other passenger not senior citizen , system will not consider it. 2/2
-IRCTC Official
— Indian Railways Seva (@RailwaySeva) September 11, 2021
In a move to discourage unnecessary travel, Indian Railways had suspended concessional tickets of various categories of people which included senior citizens due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic last year.
It only gave concession on students, four categories of Divyaganjan and 11 categories of patients, IRCTC said.
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