Railways simplify cancellation of confirmed e-tickets

In a move that is going to help passengers in a big way, the ministry of Railways has decided to grant automatic refund of Confirmed/RAC e-tickets on cancellation of trains similar to wait listed e-tickets. There shall not be any requirement for cancellation/filing of TDR for refund of e-tickets in case of cancellation of trains. This will become effective very shortly.

The railway ministry woke up to this issue after the spate of cancellations of trains because of the Gurjar agitation in Rajasthan's Kota district and also the Itarsi fire near Bhopal. The cancellations continue till Tuesday and it was exasperating for people to stand in queue to cancel their tickets.

"It is a good decision because with all the computerisation in the field of ticketing in the railways, why should a person have to stand in line at the PRS center to cancel his ticket when the train itself was cancelled in the first place. Surely the chances of anyone defrauding the railways is out of question here," said Bharat Shinde, a Thane resident who recently missed his train to Delhi because of the Gujjar agitation.

In case of cancellation of trains, PRS counter ticket shall continue to be refunded across the reservation counter as per the existing provisions. 

Flooded with complaints against the existing system for e-ticket cancellation, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu himself initiated the process to address the issue.

"New way of refund on cancellation of train done today, eliminates trouble faced by dear passengers. System upgradation already underway," Prabhu had tweeted.