Railways doubles cancellation charges, tightens rules
13 Nov 2015
The cancellation charge for railway tickets has been doubled while a refund can now be obtained only till four hours before the scheduled departure of a train, as new rules came into effect on Thursday, which Indian Railways said were aimed at thwarting touts.
With the new refund rules, Indian Railways has doubled the ticket cancellation charge with the aim of helping genuine passengers get confirmed tickets.
''There will be no refund after the departure of a train and one has to get the refund four hours before the scheduled departure as per the revised refund rules,'' said a senior railway ministry official, adding that the revised refund rules are effective from Thursday. ''The rules were revised to discourage touts and ticketing agents who engage in black marketing of tickets,'' said the official.
While the cancellation fee for a second class confirmed ticket 48 hours before the scheduled departure of a train has been increased from Rs30 to Rs60, a third-AC ticket will cost Rs180 to cancel against the earlier Rs90.
For wait-listed and reservation-against-cancellation (RAC) tickets, one has to avail the refund up to half an hour before the scheduled departure of the train and there will be no refund after that.
The second-sleeper class cancellation charge has been increased from Rs60 to Rs120 while for Second AC it is now Rs200 against the earlier Rs100, according to the railway notification.
The official said that the purpose behind amending the Railway Passengers (Cancellation of Ticket and Refund of Fare) Rules, 2015, is to plug the scope of misuse. Earlier, between 48 hours and 6 hours before the scheduled departure of the train, cancellation fee was 25 per cent of the ticket. Now, the charge will be 25 per cent of the ticket for cancellation between 48 hours and 12 hours before the scheduled departure of a train.
Also, from 6 hours before the scheduled departure of a train and up to 2 hours after the actual departure of the train, cancellation fee was 50 per cent of the ticket.
However, the revised rules stipulate that between 12 hours and 4 hours before the scheduled departure of the train, cancellation fee will be 50 per cent of the ticket.
The Railways has also decided to enable certain unreserved ticket counters to allow refund of reserved tickets.
