Railways to refund tickets booked on demonetised currency after 30 days

Those who hurried to book railway tickets using the window to encash demonetised Rs1,000 and Rs500 currency notes by cancelling these subsequently will have to wait for at least 30 days after cancellation to get their money refunded.

The refunds, however, will be made through cheques or online transfers as cancellation of tickets worth over Rs10,000 will come under scrutiny. These will be routed through the head office of the particular railway for verification.

The conditions will, however, apply to only those tickets booked on 9, 10 and 11 November and those bookings of value more than Rs10,000, according to railway officials.

People who tried to use their money to buy tickets were hoping to get these converted into valid notes by cancelling them as and when they wanted. But, as railway officials pointed out, the conversion of old discarded notes into new notes amidst the scrutiny is a cumbersome process and could take more than 30 days from the date of cancellation of the ticket.

Also, as an official in the Bhusawal section of the Central Railway pointed out, against the normal business at passenger reservation system (PRS) of around Rs50-60 lakh in cash across the counter on a daily basis, the transacted amount on 9 November was Rs1.28 crore.

Also, it was clear from the bookings, most of which were for air-conditioned class, were done without any possibility of the tickets getting confirmed or even getting an RAC status.

The railways has already collected all the required information from the consumers, which will be shared with the agencies as and when required.

As per the railways' decision, every person who has cancelled the ticket bought across the counter has to file ticket deposit receipt (TDR) to process the payment. If such tickets are worth more than Rs10,000, the TDR will be sent to the head office where the reasons mentioned for the cancellation will be scrutinised.

Thereafter, the railways will decide whether to process the payment.

The payment, however, will only be made online, by cheque or even e-transfer from account to account only. There is no chance that money will be given in cash in any case, officials pointed out.