Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) allows passengers to cancel tickets online as well as offline on railway counters. Passengers may want to cancel tickets for various reasons such as change in plans or in some cases even in the event of floods and other similar natural disasters that cause trains to be delayed to cancelled.
(Also read: How to register as a new user online on IRCTC: Follow these simple steps)
A cancellation charge will be applicable depending on the time when the ticket was booked. If you are a registered user of irctc.co.in, you can log in to cancel any tickets booked on counters online instead of rushing to the counters. Here are the cancellation charges applicable under different circumstances:
e-Tickets can be cancelled online on irctc.co.in till chart for the train is prepared.
Cancellations are not allowed at face to face Railway Counters. If a user wants to cancel an e-Ticket, they can do so till the chart preparation for the train. For train starting up to 12 noon the chart is prepared on the previous night. Users can log on to www.irctc.co.in, go to the “Booked Tickets” link and select the ticket and passengers to be cancelled to initiate the cancellation process. Cancellation is confirmed online and the refund is credited back to the account used for booking as for normal Internet tickets. If there is any partial cancellation of ticket, please ensure that a fresh e-reservation slip (Electronic Reservation Slip) is printed separately as done for the original ticket.
For the detailed procedure for canceling e-tickets, check this link.
Cancellation of e-Tickets before chart preparation:
If a confirmed ticket is cancelled more than 48 hours before the scheduled departure of the train, flat cancellation charges shall 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. Cancellation charges are per passenger.
If a confirmed ticket is cancelled within 48 hours and up to 12 hours before the scheduled departure of the train, cancellation charges shall be 25% of the fare subject to the minimum flat rate mentioned in the above clause.
Less than 12 hours and up to four hours before the scheduled departure of the train up to chart preparation, whichever is earlier, 50% of the fare paid is subject to the minimum cancellation charges.
Cancellation of e-Tickets after chart preparation:
For regular users, e-tickets cannot be cancelled after chart preparation. Users are requested to use the online TDR filing for such cases and track status of the refund case through tracking service provided by IRCTC. TDR can be filed as per Railway rules:
1. No refund of fare shall be admissible on RAC e-tickets in case the ticket is not cancelled or TDR not filed online up to thirty minutes before the scheduled departure of the train.
2. No refund of fare shall be admissible on the tickets having confirmed reservation in case the ticket is not cancelled or TDR not filed online up to four hours before the scheduled departure of the train.
3. In case, on a party e-ticket or a family e-ticket issued for travel of more than one passenger, some passengers have confirmed reservation and others are on RAC or waiting list, full refund of fare, less clerkage, shall be admissible for confirmed passengers also subject to the condition that the ticket shall be cancelled online or online TDR shall be filed for all the passengers up to thirty minutes before the scheduled departure of the train.
(Also read: How to cancel e-tickets on IRCTC: All you need to know about the process)
For filing online TDR, select ‘File Ticket Deposit Receipt (TDR)’ from menu ‘Services’. IRCTC will forward the claim to concerned railways section to process the refund and money of refund amount will be credited back to same account through which payment was made after receiving the same from the appropriate railways section.
(Also read: How to book e-tickets on IRCTC: Step-by-step easy guide)
For Tatkal tickets booked as e-Tickets:
No refund will be granted on cancellation of confirmed Tatkal tickets. For contingent cancellation and waitlisted Tatkal ticket cancellations, charges will be deducted as per existing Railway rules. Partial cancellation of Tatkal e-tickets is allowed.
Cancellation of e-tickets in case of trains cancelled:
If the train is marked as ‘Cancelled’ in PRS due to breaches, floods, accidents etc full refund is permissible in case the ticket is cancelled within three days of the scheduled departure of the train. In case of e-tickets, such cancellations can be done by the customers online.
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