CHENNAI: A section of rail passengers complained that auto upgradation of tickets is yet to be resumed for senior citizens although the latter had been charged full ticket fare for the past few months. However, the railways maintained that when the passengers have not availed of the concession, their tickets will get queued in the upgradation list automatically.
Under the senior citizen quota, men aged 60 years and above and women aged 58 years and above are eligible for 40 and 50 per cent concessions in ticket fares respectively. The concession, which was available in all express and premier trains, was withdrawn in COVID special trains in 2020 and 2021 and later extended to regular trains.
Elderly passengers have been excluded from the auto-upgradation scheme, under which tickets of wait-listed passengers will be upgraded by one class without any additional fare against vacancies. The upgradation is done by Passenger Reservation System (PRS) during the preparation of the first chart automatically from sleeper to 3AC, 3AC to 2AC and 2AC to 1AC.
The preference was given to wait-listed passengers under the tatkal quota followed by the general class who don't avail of any concession in ticket fare. The scheme is applicable only for those passengers who have chosen 'auto-upgradation' at the time of booking.
S Radhakrishnan (64), a regular commuter from Dindigul said, "In the third week of June, my sleeper class wait-listed ticket 2 booked on Chennai-Palakkad express was confirmed, but not upgraded. However, 3rd and 4th wait-listed tickets got upgraded. I wonder if senior citizens’ tickets were still kept out of auto upgradation."
A similar issue was faced by other passengers in Sengottai express two weeks ago. "I won't prefer giving up my lower berth in sleeper class for an upper berth in 3rd AC. However, passengers who are behind in the waiting list are getting upgraded. The railways should look into it," said 63-year-old K Sambath.
A railway official said, "When there was no concession category concerning age, tickets of senior citizens will not get skipped in auto upgradation. If there is any specific complaint, we will look into it."