Indian Railways has amended its cancellation rules for confirmed tickets and implemented a new structure based on time left before departure. The new rules set out different refund rates and penalties and become more stringent as the time of departure approaches.
According to the new system, if a passenger cancels the ticket 72 hours before the commencement of the journey, he will get the maximum refund and will have to pay only a fixed cancellation fee. If the ticket is canceled between 72 and 24 hours, 25% of the fare will be deducted, plus a minimum charge will be applicable. The new rules will be implemented by the Railways in steps between April 1 and April 15, 2026.
When will I not get the refund?
The penalty increases for late ticket cancellation. If the ticket is canceled between 24 hours to 8 hours before the departure of the train, 50% of the fare will be deducted, subject to the minimum charges. No refund will be given if the ticket is canceled less than 8 hours before the departure of the train.
This is a big change
Indian Railways has allowed passengers to change their boarding point up to 30 minutes before the scheduled departure of the train. This change is expected to help passengers in cities where there are multiple stations. In such cities, passengers can catch the train from any station as per their convenience.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said that as per Touts’ assessment of ticket booking practices, the agents used to book extra tickets and cancel the sold tickets before the departure of the train, due to which they got a substantial amount of the booking amount back as refund. He said that earlier 400-500 requests for ticket confirmation used to come in the Minister Cell, now the requests come down to 150 every day, that is, there has been a decrease in it.
What were the rules of cancellation earlier?
Before the change in rules, cancellation charges for confirmed tickets were based on a short time frame and a flat rate based on class. If a confirmed ticket was canceled more than 48 hours before the departure of the train, a fixed cancellation charge was deducted from each passenger. The charge was Rs 240 + GST for Executive Class and Rs 180 + GST for AC Chair Car.
If the cancellation was made between 48 hours to 12 hours before the departure of the train, then 25% of the fare was deducted, provided this amount was not less than the prescribed minimum cancellation charge. If the ticket was canceled between 12 hours to 4 hours before the departure of the train, 50% of the fare was deducted, provided this amount was not less than the prescribed minimum charge.