Indian Railway (IRCTC) Train E Ticket Reservation Cancellation Refund [OTP Based]

Indian Railways starts implementing a new One Time Password (OTP) based refund system to make train tickets refund more accessible to common man. As per the Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC), this Train E-Ticket Reservation Cancellation Refund policy will be more transparent and customer friendly. All those train ticket reservation which have been cancelled or dropped on being fully waitlisted will be refunded.

The new Indian Railway Train E-Ticket Reservation Cancellation Refund mechanism would be simplified. Passengers will now receive an OTP as SMS on their registered mobile number. This OTP must be provided in order to complete process of IRCTC Train E-Ticket Reservation Cancellation Refund. This new system will only be applicable to those e-tickets which are booked by IRCTC authorized agents only.

New Procedure for Cancellation of E Tickets

e-Tickets can be cancelled on Internet at this website till Chart preparation of the train. Cancellations are not allowed at face to face Railway Counters. If the user wishes to cancel his e-Ticket, he can do so till the time of chart preparation for the train. For train starting up to 12 noon the chart preparation is usually done on the previous night. 

He can log on to www.irctc.co.in and go to “Booked Tickets” link and select the ticket to be cancelled and can initiate the cancellation by selecting the passengers to be cancelled. Cancellation would be confirmed online and the refund would be 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. To take you step by step and familiarize you with the procedure for canceling of e-tickets, please click http://contents.irctc.co.in/en/bookEticket.html

Cancellation of e-Tickets before Chart Preparation of Train

If a confirmed ticket is cancelled more than 48 hrs before the scheduled departure of the train, flat cancellation charges 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
• Rs. 60/- for Second Class.

Cancellation charges are per passenger. If a confirmed ticket is cancelled within 48 hrs 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 upto four hours before the scheduled departure of the train up to chart preparation which is earlier, 50% of the fare paid subject to the minimum cancellation charges.

Note the Chart preparation time is the time for the chart preparation from the Train Originating Station or from the previous chart Preparation station.

Cancellation of e-Tickets after Preparation of Reservation Charts (For Normal User)

E-ticket 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:-

• 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 upto four hours before the scheduled departure of the train.
• No refund of fare shall be admissible on RAC e-tickets is case the ticket is not cancelled or TDR not filed online upto thirty minutes before the scheduled departure of the train.
• 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 upto thirty minutes before the scheduled departure of the train.

Filing of Online TDR

For filing online TDR, select

• File Ticket Deposit Receipt (TDR) – from menu – Service.
• For the ticket booked at old site, select Old Transaction History – from menu – My Transactions and after getting the password verified select – File TDR – link in the left panel under the “My Transactions” menu.

IRCTC will forward the claim to Concerned Railways 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 concerned Railways. For any other clarifications please mail to [email protected]

Cancellation of e-Tickets after Preparation of Reservation Charts (For Agents)

E-ticket cannot be cancelled after chart preparation. Whenever Agents received such a request from their customers they are required to send a mail to [email protected] containing following details.

• PNR No.
• Transaction ID :
• Train No.
• From:
• To:
• Date of journey:
• S.No.
• PASSENGER NAME
• AGE
• SEX
• Reasons for Filing TDR

IRCTC will file TDR and forward the claim to Concerned Railways to process the refund and money of refund amount will be credited back to Agents account through which payment was made after receiving the same from the concerned Railways. For any other clarifications please mail to [email protected]

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 customer through Internet.

IRCTC Train E-Ticket Reservation Cancellation Refund

Through new Indian Railways E-Ticket Reservation Cancellation process, train passengers will be immensely benefited. In case a ticket is booked through authorised IRCTC agent and is cancelled by the customer or fully waitlisted dropped ticket, an OTP SMS will be sent on customer / passenger mobile number. This mobile number is the same which was provided by the passenger to the agent at the time of booking. Passengers will have to share this OTP with the agent who booked their ticket to get the refund amount.

According to IRCTC, OTP based refund process will bring in more transparency in the Railway Reservation Cancellation refund system. This is a user friendly process where passengers can get to know the exact refund amount received by agent on his behalf against the cancelled ticket or fully wait list dropped ticket.

Need for Indian Railways Train Ticket Reservation Cancellation Refund

The main objective of new Railways Reservation Cancellation scheme is to streamline the cancellation refund process further. This will ensure that the cancellation amount is refunded in a timely manner to customer by agents. To avail benefits of new railways ticket cancellation refund scheme, customer must provide correct mobile number to IRCTC authorized agent at time of booking reserved rail e-tickets.

The customer/passenger should ensure that agent records their mobile number correctly at the time of booking reserved rail e-tickets. Only IRCTC authorised agents have the permission to book reserved rail e-tickets to customer. OTP based refund for cancelled tickets or fully waitlisted dropped tickets would be processed only if ticket is booked through IRCTC authorized agents.

For more details on Train Ticket Reservation Cancellation Refund, visit the link – http://contents.irctc.co.in/en/eticketCancel.html