Indian
Railways Undertakes Comprehensive Revision of its Refund Rules
The Revised Refund Rules will Come
into Effect From 1st July 2013
Ministry of Railways has revised and
amended Refund Rules in a very comprehensive manner and notified them which shall
come into force with effect from 1.7.2013. The amendments made in the Refund
Rules are aimed at simplification, efficiency in processing and reduction of
bogus refund claims.
Railway Passengers (Cancellation of ticket and Refund of fare) Rules,
1998 have not been substantially revised in the last 15 years during which
period a large number of changes have taken place in the ticketing system of
Indian Railways. Firstly, Computerised
Passenger Reservation System (PRS) as well as Computerised Unreserved Ticketing
System (UTS) have proliferated. Reservation through internet has also been
introduced through which 45% of the total reserved tickets are issued.
Integrated Train Enquiry System -- 139 is functional through which ticket
status can be obtained through SMS. The above developments warranted that the
refund rules be revised comprehensively.
The major changes in the existing rules and the amendments in refund
rules are as under:-
Unused (unreserved) tickets on which
no reservation has been made:
Existing rule
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Amended rule
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If a ticket on which no reservation of a
seat or berth has been made is presented to the station master for
cancellation refund of fare shall be made on every such ticket after
deducting the clerkage.
(i) within three hours after the actual
departure of the train for which the ticket is issued or
(ii) for any ticket valid for the whole
day, within three hours after the actual departure of the last train of the
day for the destination station
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If a ticket on which no reservation of a
seat or berth has been made is presented for cancellation, refund of fare
shall be made on every such ticket after deducting the clerkage.
(i)The ticket shall be presented for
cancellation within three hours of issue of ticket.
(ii)
In case of tickets issued in advance the ticket is presented upto 2400 hours
of the day preceding the day of journey.
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Unused tickets on which reservation
has been made:
(i)
if the ticket is presented for cancellation more than forty eight hours instead
of the existing 24 hours in advance of the scheduled departure of the train, a
minimum per passenger cancellation charge shall be deducted at the flat rate of
rupees one hundred and twenty for air-conditioned first class/executive class,
rupees one hundred for air-conditioned-II tier/first class, rupees ninety for
air-conditioned III-tier/ 3 economy/air-conditioned chair car, rupees sixty for
sleeper class and rupees thirty for second class.
(ii)
if the ticket is presented for cancellation between forty eight hours
and upto six hours instead of existing 24 hours and upto 4 hours before the
scheduled departure of the train, cancellation charge shall be twenty five per
cent of the fare subject to a minimum of the cancellation charge.
(iii)
if the ticket is presented for
cancellation within six hours instead of existing 4 hours before the scheduled
departure of the train and upto two hours irrespective of distance instead of
existing 3/6/12 hours for distance 200 kms/200-500 kms/500 Kms and above after
the actual departure of the train, the cancellation charge shall be fifty per
cent of the fare subject to a minimum of the cancellation charge.
(iv)
No refund shall be granted on the reserved ticket if it is surrendered for
cancellation after two hours of the actual departure of the train.
(v)
In case, on a party ticket or a family ticket issued for travel of more
than one person, some persons have confirmed reservation and others are on
waiting list, full refund of fare, less clerkage, shall be admissible for
confirmed passengers also provided that the entire ticket is surrendered for
cancellation within six hours instead of existing 4 hours before the scheduled
departure of the train and upto two hours instead of existing 3 hours after
actual departure of the train”.
Unused waitlisted or RAC tickets:–
Existing rule
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Revised
rule
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If the ticket is presented for
cancellation upto 3/6/12 hours for distance 200 kms/200-500 kms/500 Kms and
above after the actual departure of the train, except deduction of clerkage;
Provided that for night trains leaving
between 21.00 hours and 06.00 hours (actual departure), refund shall be
admissible at the station within the time limits specified above or within
first four hours after the opening of reservation office, whichever is later.
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If a Waitlisted/RAC ticket is presented
for cancellation, refund of fare shall be admissible after deducting the
clerkage.
(i) The ticket is presented for
cancellation upto three hours after the actual departure of the train
irrespective of the distance.
(ii) The passenger may get the tickets
cancelled from any PRS counters or the designated current counters.
(iii)
No refund of fare shall be granted on RAC ticket /Waitlisted ticket after three
hours of the actual departure of the train.
(iv) In case no current counters are
available at journey originating station for night trains leaving between
21.00 hours and 06.00 hours(actual departure , refund shall be admissible at
the station within first two hours after the opening of reservation office.
(v) In remote and hill areas as
identified by the zonal Railways with the prior approval of the General
Managers and print in their Time Tables for train leaving between 1900 hours
and 0600 hours (actual departure) refund shall be admissible at the station
within first two hours after the opening of reservation/booking office, in
case there is no reservation counters/booking office/ current counters.
Available in that area.
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Cancellation of e- tickets.-
The
e- ticket may be booked and cancelled through internet and the refund of fare
shall be credited to the customer’s account after deducting the charges
applicable.
* In case of a confirmed e-ticket, refund
of fare shall be granted in accordance with rule for unused tickets on which
reservation has been made. In case of RAC e-ticket, refund of fare shall be
granted in accordance with rule for unused waitlisted and RAC tickets.
* In case of the waitlisted e-ticket on
which status of all the passengers is on waiting list even after preparation of
reservation charts, names of all such passengers booked on that Passenger Name
Record (PNR) shall be dropped from the
reservation chart and refund of fare
shall be credited to the customer’s account
after deducting the clerkage.
*In case on a party e-ticket or a family
e-ticket issued for travel of more than one person, some persons have confirmed
reservation and others are on the list of RAC and waiting list, then in case of
passengers on RAC or waitlisted not travelling, a certificate has to be
obtained from the ticket checking staff to that effect and refund of fare shall
be processed online through TDR, indicating the details of the certificate
issued by ticket checking staff.
* The online TDR shall be filed upto
seventy two hours of actual arrival of the train at passenger’s destination and
the original certificate issued by the ticket checking staff is to be sent
through post to Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC). The
fare shall be refunded by Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation
(IRCTC) to the customer’s account after due verification.
* In case of e-tickets (confirmed or RAC),
if the reservation charts have been
prepared, online TDR is required to be filed for obtaining refund. No
refund of fare shall be admissible on e- ticket having confirmed reservation in
case the request for refund is filed online after two hours of the actual
departure of the train.
* No refund of fare shall be admissible on
RAC e-tickets in case the request for refund is filed online after three hours
of the actual departure of the train.
Refund on Tatkal tickets:
* No
refund of fare shall be admissible on confirmed Tatkal ticket.
* In case of Tatkal ticket on waitlist,
refund of fare shall be granted in accordance with rule for unused waitlisted
or RAC tickets.
* In case on a party Tatkal ticket or a
family Tatkal ticket issued for travel for more than one person, some persons
have confirmed reservation and others are on waiting list, full refund of fare,
less clerkage, shall be admissible for confirmed passengers also provided that
the entire Tatkal ticket is surrendered for cancellation within six hours
before the scheduled departure of the train or upto two hours of the actual
departure of the train.
Postponement or preponement of journey on a reserved, RAC or
waitlisted ticket.
The postponement or preponement of
journey on confirmed or RAC or waitlisted ticket shall be allowed in the same
class and for the same destination instead of any longer distance or any higher
class by the same train or by any other train for any subsequent days, subject to condition that the ticket is
surrendered during the working hours of reservation office and at least forty
eight hours instead of existing 24 hours before the scheduled departure of the
train in which originally booked.
Non-commencement or missing of journey
due to late running of trains. -
* No cancellation charge or clerkage shall be
levied and full fare shall be refunded to all passengers holding reserved, RAC
and waitlisted tickets, if the journey is not undertaken due to late running of
the train by more than three hours of the scheduled departure of the train from
the station commencing the journey subject to condition that the ticket is
surrendered upto the actual departure of the train instead of existing 3/6/12
hours for distance 200 kms/200-500 kms/500 Kms and above after the actual
departure of the train
* In
case of e-tickets, the TDR is filed
online before the actual departure of
the train for availing full refund.
* In case the ticket is cancelled or
surrendered or if the request for refund of fare is filed online after the actual departure of the
train, no refund of fare shall be admissible.
Lost, misplaced, torn or mutilated tickets: -
If the reservation status of a lost, misplaced, torn or mutilated
ticket, at the time of receipt of the application for issuance of a duplicate
ticket for the purpose of undertaking journey, is confirmed or RAC and that the
duplicate ticket is sought before preparation of reservation chart of the
concerned train, the station master shall issue a duplicate ticket in lieu of
the original ticket on payment of rupees
fifty per passenger in case of second
and sleeper class and rupees one
hundred per passenger for other classes
instead of existing clerkage charge.
Application for refund of
Passenger Reservation System (PRS) tickets in other circumstances:-
For refund of fare under circumstances other than those specified in
these rules or under circumstances like ‘bandh’ or agitations or floods, etc., the passengers could not reach the
reservation counter or station or current counters for cancellation of tickets,
in those cases, a TDR shall be issued to
the passenger and the passenger may apply for refund of fare within ten days instead
existing 90 days from the day of commencement of journey to the Chief
Commercial Manager (Refunds) of the railway administration under whose
jurisdiction the TDR issuing station comes, enclosing the original TDR. The TDR
shall be issued only upto three days instead of existing 30 days after the
scheduled departure of the train.
Source: PIB
