IRCTC cancellation policies, rules, charges and more

IRCTC cancellation policies, rules, charges and more:

What is IRCTC?

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd. (IRCTC) is an enterprise under the Ministry of Railways aimed at professionalising and managing catering and hospitality services at trains, stations, and other railway locations.

One of the important duties of IRCTC is also to handle the e-ticketing system of Railways, offer tour packages, and provide packaged drinking water (Rail Neer).

IRCTC also handles e-ticket cancellations for Indian Railways.

Headquartered in New Delhi, it has five zonal offices, 10 regional offices, 11 base kitchens, and 14 Rail Neer Plants.

IRCTC e-ticketing

IRCTC's e-ticketing system was started in August 2002.

The old e-ticketing system was replaced with e-Ticketing (NGeT) System on April 28, 2014.

The advance server of IRCTC has the capacity to book 26,000 e-tickets a minute.

It set the record for booking 28,434 tickets in a minute on November 12, 2022.

A record 7,706.40 lakh passengers booked e-tickets in 2022–23, and a record revenue of Rs 54323.46 crore was collected during the same duration.

IRCTC cancellation policies, rules, charges 

1. The IRCTC website allows e-ticket cancellation until the train reservation chart is prepared. For a train starting its journey at 12 noon, the reservation chart is prepared the previous night. IRCTC does not allow e-ticket cancellation face-to-face at railway counters.

2. Ticket holders willing to cancel their tickets can initiate cancellation by selecting the names of the passengers on IRCTC's website. After the ticket cancellation, IRCTC sends the cancellation confirmation online receipt, following which, it sends the refund back to the account used for booking the e-ticket. 

3. IRCTC says if there is any partial cancellation of the ticket, the passenger should make sure that a fresh e-reservation slip (Electronic Reservation Slip) is printed separately, as was done for the original ticket.

e-tickets cancellation charges before train chart preparation:

1. As per information available on the IRCTC site, if a confirmed ticket is cancelled more than 48 hours before the scheduled departure of the train, flat cancellation charges (per passenger) shall be deducted as follows:
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. However, if one cancels a confirmed ticket within 48 hours and up to 12 hours before the scheduled departure of the train, they have to pay the cancellation charges of 25 per cent of the fare, subject to the minimum flat rate mentioned in the above clause.

3. If one chooses to cancel an e-ticket less than 12 hours and up to four hours before the scheduled departure of the train, up to chart preparation, which is earlier, they have to pay 50 per cent of the fare paid, subject to the minimum cancellation charges. Chart preparation in these cases refers to the time for chart preparation from the train's originating station or from the previous chart preparation station.

Cancellation of e-tickets after the preparation of the train chart

For Normal User:- IRCTC doesn't allow ticket cancellation after the reservation of the train is prepared. A user opting for ticket cancellation can fill an online TDR form and track the status of refund through IRCTC's tracking service. 

Before filing a TDR, please keep these IRCTC rules in mind:

1. IRCTC doesn't refund money for confirmed tickets if the ticket is not cancelled or a TDR is not filed online up to four hours before the scheduled departure of the train.

2. For RAC e-ticket, IRCTC says that no refund of fare shall be entertained if the ticket is not cancelled or a TDR is not filed online up to 30 minutes before the scheduled departure of the train.

3. For cases where passengers have party e-tickets or a family e-ticket for more than one passenger, the IRCTC rule says that a full refund of fare, less clerkage, shall be entertained only for confirmed passengers, but the refund is also subject to the condition that the ticket shall be cancelled online or an online TDR shall be filed for all the passengers up to thirty minutes before the scheduled departure of the train.

For Tatkal Tickets Booked as e-Tickets:

Though partial cancellation of Tatkal e-tickets is allowed, IRCTC doesn't refund money for the cancellation of confirmed Tatkal tickets.

The Railway entity, however, deducts charges as per existing Railway rules for the cancellation of contingent or waitlisted Tatkal tickets.

Cancellation of e-tickets in case a train is cancelled:

If Railways marks a train as 'CANCELLED' in PRS because of floods, breaches, accidents, etc. IRCTC allows a full refund of tickets in case it is cancelled within three days of the scheduled departure of the train. The passengers can cancel their tickets through the internet.