Railways has clarified that on the journey, special seats are available in trains for senior citizens, women above the age of 45 years, and Divyangs. In different classes' coaches, lower seats are reserved for them. This facility becomes available to them even when the lower berth option has not been chosen during booking. Pregnant women also become eligible for this facility.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav replied to a query on this in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. The Railways do all that they can to provide maximum facilities to the various categories of passengers, he said. If the lower berths in the trains are vacant during the journey, the senior citizens, handicapped individuals, and pregnant women are the ones who are given priority right to it.

The Railway Minister said that this is an automatic system of the Railways. For this, there is a provision for lower berth reservations in various coaches. Six to seven seats are reserved in each coach of sleeper class. Similarly, four to five seats in AC-3 and three to four lower berths in AC-2 are kept reserved.

"This facility is more or less according to the number of coaches in a train. The Railways tries to ensure that a maximum number of passengers can get the benefit. There is also a reservation quota for disabled passengers in Mail-Express, Rajdhani, and Shatabdi trains."

The Railway Minister said, "Four berths are reserved in each bogie of Sleeper Class, four berths (including two lower berths) in Three AC and Three-E. Similarly, four seats each are reserved in the Second Sitting or AC Chair Car."