Indian Railways offers a facility that enables passengers to make advance train ticket reservations up to 120 days in advance for all classes of travel. The Railways carries over two crore passengers per day. E-ticket cancellations are not allowed at railway counters. IRCTC, the e-ticketing arm of Indian Railways, offers the facility of booking train tickets online. The refund amount for tickets cancelled through the IRCTC portal or app is credited back to the account used for booking online tickets, after deduction of applicable cancellation charges.
Train ticket cancellation charges and refund rules
1) If a confirmed ticket is cancelled up to 48 hours before the scheduled departure of train, ticket cancellation charges will be deducted at Rs. 240 for AC First Class/Executive Class, Rs. 200 for AC 2 Tier/First Class, Rs. 180 for AC 3 Tier/AC Chair car/AC 3 Economy, Rs.120 for Sleeper Class and Rs. 60 for Second Class.
2) If a confirmed ticket is cancelled within 48 hours and up to 12 hours before the scheduled departure of train, ticket cancellation charges will be 25 per cent of the fare subject to the minimum flat rate mentioned above.
3) If a confirmed ticket is cancelled between 12 hours and up to four hours before the scheduled departure, cancellation charges will be 50 per cent of the fare paid subject to the minimum cancellation rate.
4) Cancellation charges are levied on per passenger basis.
5) E-tickets cannot be cancelled after preparation of chart. No refund of fare shall be admissible on the ticket having confirmed reservation in case ticket is not cancelled or TDR (ticket deposit receipt) not filed online up to four hours before the scheduled departure of the train, according to the IRCTC website.
6) In case of cancellation of trains, an automatic refund is granted for e-tickets. Filing of a TDR or ticket deposit receipt is not required.
Wait-Listed, RAC Train Ticket Cancellation And Refund Rules
7) For RAC (reservation against cancellation) train tickets or wait-listed train tickets cancelled up to 30 minutes before the departure of train, refund will be granted after deduction of clerkage charges. According to the IRCTC website, for second class (reserved) and other classes, the clerkage charge is Rs. 60 per passenger for cancellation of RAC and waitlisted tickets.
8) No cancellation charge is levied and full fare is refunded to passengers holding confirmed, RAC and wait-listed tickets if the journey is not undertaken due to late running of train by more than three hours of scheduled departure, subject to the condition that the ticket is surrendered prior to actual departure of train.
9) For a PRS (Passenger Reservation System) counter ticket, in case of train cancellation, a refund is permissible within three days excluding the scheduled day of departure of train.
10) Remember no refund is granted on cancellation of confirmed Tatkal train tickets. If a train is running late by more than 3 hours or train is cancelled, you can file TDR for claiming refund, according to IRCTC.