Indian Railways: 8 Things You Must Know To Avail Concession On Train Tickets

Almost every traveller is aware of the fact that the Indian Railways provides travel concessions to various categories of travellers, like students, sports persons, scouts and guides, farmers, industrial workers, teachers, senior citizens, handicapped persons, etc.

For easy reference, the Railways has drawn up a Rail Travel Concession Table, showing details of travellers eligible for concession, amount of concession and the conditions, if any, for availing the concession.

The Table is divided into two parts. "Part A" contains those concessions which are available directly at stations & booking/reservation offices by producing the necessary documents. "Part-B" contains those concessions where the persons should approach the designated Commercial Officers of the Railway in the Area, Division or Zonal Railway Headquarters. After verifying the eligibility, the Officers issue necessary authorization letter on the basis of which, the Station Managers & Booking/ Reservation offices issue concessional tickets.

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If you are eligible for any of the concessions, please follow the information provided below:

• Concession is admissible on basic Mail/Express/ Rajdhani/Shatabdi/etc fares only and not on 'Ordinary' fares applicable to Passenger trains, Superfast surcharge, reservation fee and Goods and Service Tax (GST) Tax etc.

• All types of concession can be availed only when tickets are purchased across the counter at Stations & Reservation/Booking offices etc. No one is granted concession on the train.

• Availing two different types of concessions by the same person for the same journey is not permissible.

• The concessional ticket cannot be changed to a higher class even if you are willing to pay the difference in fare.

• 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.

• Concession is not admissible for a journey where the cost of travel is borne by Central/State Governments/ Local Bodies/ Corporations or Govt. Undertakings, Universities, etc.

• Some of the concessions are admissible subject to the minimum distance of journey which have been specified in the relevant categories.

• It may be noted that the general and broad information about availability of concessions has been provided in the following pages, and is only indicative. This is not a substitute for the concerned Tariff books on Railway Concessions which contain detailed information, procedure, conditions, prescribed formats and certificates needed for availing such concessions.