New Rules for Cancellation and Refund of Railway Tickets

Under normal circumstances no refund is granted on confirmed, RAC and Waitlisted tickets after the departure of the train. 

With effect from 12.11.2015, certain provisions of Railway Passengers (Cancellation of tickets and refund of fare) Rules have been amended and comprehensive Railway Passengers (Cancellation of tickets and refund of fare) Rules 2015 have been notified through Gazette Notification G.S.R. 836(E). dated 04.11.2015. 

Important changes made in Railway Passengers (Cancellation of tickets and refund of fare) Rules are as under:- 

Refund on cancellation of unused confirmed tickets: 

(i) If confirmed ticket is presented for cancellation upto 48 hours before the scheduled departure of the train, per passenger minimum cancellation charge is levied 

. (ii). If confirmed ticket is presented for cancellation between 48 hours and upto 12 hours before the scheduled departure of the train, 25% cancellation charges is levied subject to minimum flat cancellation charge. 

(iii) If confirmed ticket is presented for cancellation between 12 hours and upto 4 hours before the scheduled departure of the train irrespective of distance, 50% cancellation charge is levied subject to minimum flat cancellation charge. 

(iv). Refund on confirmed ticket is granted only upto 4 hours before the scheduled departure of the train. 

(B). Refund on cancellation of unused RAC/Wait-listed tickets/Partially confirmed tickets:- 

(i). When RAC/Waitlisted ticket/Partially confirmed tickets is presented for cancellation, the refund of fare minus clerkage charge is made upto 30 minutes before the scheduled departure of the train. 

Certain provisions of Railway Passengers (Cancellation of tickets and refund of fare) Rules have been amended to check bogus claims, to facilitate provision of Mobile ticketing as well as paperless ticketing, discourage last minute cancellation resulting in seats/berths going vacant etc. The amendment in refund rules became necessary to adapt to changes/developments in the ticketing systems. 

Further, reservation charts are being prepared at least 4 hours in advance, which facilitates purchase of available berths till 30 minutes before departure of the train. 

No cancellation charge or clerkage charges is levied and full fare is refunded to all passengers holding confirmed, RAC and Wait-listed tickets if the journey is not undertaken due to late running of the train by more than three hours of scheduled departure of the train from the journey commencing station, subject to the condition that the ticket is surrendered prior to the actual departure of the train

This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on 11.12.2015.