Refund Facilities on Cancellation of Tickets

Refund Facilities on Cancellation of Tickets

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO: 6031

ANSWERED ON: 04.04.2018

Refund Facilities on Cancellation of Tickets

SUSHIL KUMAR SINGH

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:-

(a) the details of different avenues available for a passenger to avail refund facilities on cancellation of tickets falling under different categories;

(b) the details of refund mechanism and policy of the railways in case of failure on account of online glitches and offline unavailability of the cancellation services;

(c) whether there is any scope for flexibility for the convenience of the passengers in case there is unavailability of services on the part of railways; and

(d) if so, the details thereof?

ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI RAJEN GOHAIN)

(a) to (d): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.6031 BY SHRI SUSHIL KUMAR SINGH TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 04.04.2018 REGARDING REFUND FACILITIES ON CANCELLATION OF TICKETS

(a): The details of different avenues available for a passenger to get refund of fare on cancellation of tickets as per Railway Passengers (Cancellation of Tickets and Refund of Fares) Rules, 2015 are as under:-

(i). Passenger Reservation System (PRS) counter tickets/Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) tickets on surrendering of original ticket are cancelled and amount due is refunded across the reservation/booking counters, within the prescribed time limit.

(ii). E-ticket is cancelled/ Ticket Deposit Receipt (TDR) filed online on the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) website within the prescribed time limit. The refund amount is credited to the account from where the payment for the booking of ticket has been made.

(iii). In exceptional circumstances as per Refund Rule, TDR can be filed for getting refund beyond prescribed time limit.

(iv). PRS counter tickets can also be cancelled through IRCTC website (www.irctc.co.in) or through 139 and refund amount can be collected across the reservation/booking counters on surrendering of original tickets within the prescribed time limit.

(v). Station masters of nominated stations have powers to allow cancellation of tickets and grant refund of fare in exceptional circumstances.

(b): As per Railway Passengers (Cancellation of Tickets and Refund of Fares) Rules, 2015, the e-tickets booked through IRCTC website are cancelled/TDR filed through the IRCTC website only within the prescribed time limit. In exceptional circumstances, passenger may approach to IRCTC or Office of Chief Commercial Managers(Refund) of concerned zonal Railways for grant of refund. In case payment is deducted and the Passenger Name Record (PNR)/ticket is not issued due to technical reasons, the refund is processed by IRCTC automatically on the following day of the transaction made by user after confirmation through the file of transaction from bank and PNR generation from PRS.

(c) & (d): All cancellation and refund of fare is governed by Notification dated 4th Nov., 2015 as Railway Passengers (Cancellation of Tickets and Refund of Fares) Rules, 2015. In exceptional circumstances there is already provision for refund of fare by Chief Commercial Managers (Refund) of concerned zonal Railways. Also, Station Managers of nominated stations of zonal Railways have been authorized to grant refund of fare on counter tickets in exceptional circumstances.

Further to the provision indicated in reply at (a) above, to facilitate the passengers PRS counter tickets are also cancelled at relatively smaller stations wherever PRS booking facility is available throughout the day and refund is granted beyond the working hours of PRS counters/current counters.

Also to facilitate e-tickets passengers in case of cancellation of trains, automatic cancellation is done and refund amount due is credited in the account from which the booking transaction took place. Cancellation or Filing of online TDR is not required in such cases.