The clarification covers holders of Privilege Passes (PP), Post Retirement Complimentary Passes (PRCP) and Widow Passes (WP). The issue had been under consideration by the Railway Board due to ambiguity in the Railway Servants (Pass) Rules, 1986, which govern free and concessional train travel for railway employees, their families and dependents.
After consulting the Commercial Directorate, the board said that "PP/PRCP/WP holders may travel in a class higher than the entitled class in premium trains, by paying the applicable difference of fare."
The order supersedes all previous instructions on travel entitlements under passes and Privilege Ticket Orders (PTOs). The board has also asked the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) to make the necessary changes to the Passenger Reservation System (PRS) and the e-Pass module of the Human Resource Management System with immediate effect.
Earlier, there was uncertainty over whether railway employees and pensioners could pay the fare difference to travel in a higher class on Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi trains using complimentary passes.
"Now, the Railway Board has explicitly clarified that this is permissible under Rule 3(x) of Schedule-II…