Many a times while trying to book tickets in lower berth quota for senior citizens, you are met with utter despair. It makes you question the point of having a special seat arrangement under Indian railway senior citizen quota. But what if we tell you, there are many unstated rules that keep you away from booking lower berths for senior citizens. So, let us tell you about these unknown rules.
How many lower berth seats are allocated for senior citizens?
Everyone knows that there is a special lower berth quota for senior citizens. But this is only half of the rule and no one mentions the limitations of this quota.
Lower berth quota for senior citizens’ rule: “There are six lower berths reserved in each Sleeper coach and three lower berths per coach in 3 AC and 2 AC for senior citizens.”
Let us explain the seat divisions (keeping Sleeper coaches as our reference, for the ease of your understanding):
- Total Number of Sleeper Coaches: On a general level any express train has 12 Sleeper coaches.
- Total Number of Seats: There are 72 seats in each of the 12 Sleeper coaches, making the total number of available seats 864 (72X12)
- Number of Lower Berths in a Coach: Each row in a compartment has 3 lower berths which makes the total lower berths in a coach number 24 (72 ÷3).
- Total Lower Berth Seats in Sleeper Class: As there are 12 sleeper coaches and in each of them there are 24 lower berths, so the total lower berth coaches in sleeper class are 288 (24X12).
- Lower Berth Seats available for Senior Citizens: As per the quota regulation, each of the coaches has six seats for senior citizens which makes the total available lower berths at 72 (6X12).
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Why only one lower berth is allocated even when booking is sought for multiple senior citizens?
This is again due to the extension of the above mentioned regulation. As there are only a small number of lower berth seats for senior citizens, so only a single lower berth is allocated against a booking form, no matter how many senior citizens may be mentioned in it. Let us explain, you are booking tickets for three people (72 year old male, 65 year old female and again another 61 year old male) using a single form, you will be allocated only one lower berth seat, where ideally the first senior citizen will get the lower berth. The rest will be allocated Middle or Upper berths.
How to bypass this regulation and get multiple lower berth seats for senior citizens?
You can book tickets using separate senior citizen concession forms to get assured lower berth seats. So, you need to fill in individual forms and book for each person separately. Ticket booking agents ideally use this ploy to assure lower berth seats, when they book for multiple senior citizens.
What are the problems of this process?
Ideally Indian Railways tries to accommodate passengers booked through the same form in nearby berths. However, when you are booking tickets filling multiple senior citizen concession forms, the seats may be scattered across different coaches. Again, though you have the lower berths but senior citizens face problems while travelling solo.
Why are lower berth seats not kept vacant for only senior citizens?
Many of you would definitely have this thought on your mind. But speaking in layman’s terms, lower berths are not kept empty for the following reasons:
- There are lower berth quotas for handicapped, pregnant women and woman travelling alone too. So, these quotas have to be fulfilled as well.
- There is no guarantee that on all days across the year, there will be a fixed number of senior citizens travelling.
Why it is technically impossible to keep the lower berths vacant?
Indian Railways makes passengers’ safety their first priority. When something moves on rails, balance and equivalent weight distribution is very important. To assure uniform passenger distribution (thus weight distribution), the booking software fills berths from middle seats (ideally 36) and moves towards the gates (i.e. 1-2 or 71-72). The booking follows an order from lower to upper berth.
Hope, we have been able to answer some of the questions you had about lower berth quota for senior citizen. If you have any thoughts, please write to us.
