In case your train is cancelled, money will be refunded automatically: Indian Railways

The Indian Railways on Friday announced that if your train is fully - from start station to end station - cancelled, your tickets will be cancelled and refunds will be processed automatically. In a tweet, the IRCTC, which handles online ticketing operations of the Indian Railways, said that in case of train cancellation, 'PNR (passenger name record) will be automatically cancelled. Refunds will be processed in the same account through which payment was made'. 

In case Train is fully cancelled from Start station to end station, PNR will be automatically cancelled. Refunds will be processed in the same account through which payment was made. For more, please log on to https://t.co/s3mX8V8YUd pic.twitter.com/UXRawh2nMD

- IRCTC (@IRCTCofficial) May 4, 2018

In the last couple of months, the government introduced several new rules to make passengers' ticketing experience hassle-free. Last month, the Railways came up with some new rules to help the passengers seeking Tatkal tickets at the last minute in cases of emergency.

 

Due to high demand during summer, the Tatkal tickets get booked within a short span of time, especially on some of the busiest routes. Also, technical glitches on the IRCTC website make it difficult for passengers to book the tickets.

To deal with such problems, the Indian Railways introduced new rules:

 

• People will have to book the tickets a day before the travel. For AC coach tickets, the bookings will start at 10 am, while for general coaches it would be 11 am.
• Passengers can claim complete refund of train fare and Tatkal charges, if the train fails to leave within three hours of its scheduled time.
• If a train's route is diverted and a passenger doesn't want to travel on that route, the passenger can ask for a full refund.
• Also, a passenger can ask for a refund if the train's route is diverted and his station/stop is not in the new route.
• Passengers can also claim a full refund if he/she is shifted to a lower class and he doesn't want to travel in that class.
• Passengers will be paid back the difference if he/she agrees to travel in the lower class.

In March, the Railways announced that it will allow passengers to transfer their confirmed ticket to another person in case they are unable to travel. It also put down guidelines on how to transfer a confirmed ticket. "Chief Reservation Supervisor of important stations are authorised by Railway Administration to permit the change of name of a passenger having a seat or berth reserved in his name," the Railways said in a statement.

 

According to the guidelines, a person can transfer the confirmed ticket to another family member be it the father, mother, sibling, children or spouse. The person would need to make a written request 24 hours prior the scheduled departure. If a government servant wants to transfer a confirmed ticket then he or she can make a written request before 24 hours of departure.

In case a student of a recognised educational institute wants to transfer his or her ticket, then they will need to get the approval of the head of the institution. A written request by that authoritative figure will allow the transfer of the ticket to another student from the same institution.