Keeping in view the declining earnings of the Railways, the department has abolished all concessions in fares for all classes except three categories. The concessions that have been abolished include exemptions given to senior citizens. Earlier, 50 per cent concession in rent was given to men above 60 years of age and women above 58 years of age. This has been abolished by the department. However, concessions will continue as before for the three categories including persons with disabilities, people suffering from serious illness, students.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav told in the Parliament that giving concessions is putting a lot of load on the department. Therefore it has been closed. Rail services were stalled for a long time during COVID. Due to this the department has suffered a lot of financial loss. In such a situation it became necessary for the department to do so.
On the other hand, RailTel on Tuesday said that high-speed free WiFi internet facility is now available at 6100 railway stations across the country. RailTel said in a statement, “With the commissioning of WiFi facility at Ubrani railway station (in Rae Bareli district of Uttar Pradesh) in Lucknow division of Northern Railway, today (Tuesday) the achievement of WiFi has been achieved at 6100 stations. ”
RailTel, a public sector undertaking under the Ministry of Railways, said that it has moved closer to expanding the facility to all stations across the country. Halt stations are an exception to this. He said that out of the above 6100 stations, more than 5000 stations are in rural areas. He said that the project to provide free WiFi internet facility at stations was conceptualized in the Railway Budget of 2015.