Booked a railway ticket online but cannot travel? Worried about money refund? Do not worry as there is a facility to cancel the booked e-ticket and to avail the refund amount. If you have booked the railway ticket online, there is a facility to cancel your booking through official web portal of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC). The e-ticket can be cancelled till the time when the chart is prepared. However, the cancellation of e-ticket is not allowed at Railway counters. Usually, for the trains starting their journey up to 12 pm, the chart is prepared the previous night. Therefore, the chart preparation time refers to the time when the chart is prepared from the originating station of the train or from the previous chart preparation station. Following are the steps you have to take in order to cancel your e-ticket and to avail the refund amount:

Here’s how you can cancel your e-ticket:

To cancel the e-ticket, you have to first log on to IRCTC website, then go to the Booked-Tickets link. Then select the ticket you want to cancel and you can also initiate the cancellation process by selecting the passengers to be cancelled. After this, the confirmation for cancelling the booked ticked would be done online. In addition to this, the refund for cancellation would be credited back to the bank account, which was used to book the e-ticket. In case if there is any partial cancellation of the e-ticket, you have to confirm whether a fresh e-reservation slip is printed separately or not.

Refund Rules for the cancellation of e-ticket before the chart preparation:

If the e-ticket is cancelled more than 48 hours ahead of the departure of the train, flat cancellation charges of Rs 240 shall be deducted for AC First Class, Executive Class, Rs 200 shall be deducted for AC 2 Tier/First Class, Rs 180 shall be deducted for AC 3 Tier, AC Chair car and AC 3 Economy, Rs 120 shall be deducted for Sleeper Class and Rs 60 shall be deducted for Second Class.

If the e-ticket is cancelled within 48 hours and up to 12 hours, ahead of the departure of the train, there shall be a deduction of 25 per cent of the fare subject to the minimum flat rate.

If the e-ticket is cancelled within 12 hours and up to 4 hours, before the departure of the train, till the time the chart is prepared, there shall be a deduction of 50 per cent of the fare subject to the minimum flat rate.

Refund Rules for the cancellation of e-ticket after the chart preparation:

For a normal passenger, after the preparation of the chart, the booked e-ticket cannot be cancelled. For such cases, the passengers have to use the online TDR filing and have to keep a track to know the status of the refund through IRCTC’s tracking service.

In case the confirmed e-ticket has not been cancelled and if TDR has not been filed online upto four hours before the departure of the train, then no refund shall be admissible.

In case of RAC e-tickets, if the ticket is not cancelled and if TDR has not been filed online upto thirty minutes before the departure of the train, then no refund shall be admissible.

In case if the e-ticket has been issued for more than one passenger like for a party or a family, and if some passengers have confirmed booking while others are on RAC or waiting list, then full refund with less clerkage shall be provided for confirmed passengers, subject to the condition that the e-ticket should be cancelled online or TDR should be filed online upto thirty minutes, ahead of the train’s departure.

Also Read! Indian Railways has always allowed you to transfer rail ticket to another person; here are the conditions

Meanwhile, for cancellation of confirmed Tatkal tickets, no refund shall be granted. For contingent cancellation and cancellation of waitlisted tickets booked in Tatkal, charges will be deducted as per existing Railway rules. In addition to this, partial cancellation of Tatkal e-tickets is also allowed.

In case if the train is marked as “CANCELLED” in PRS due to any calamity like breaches, floods, accidents and others, full refund will be provided in case the ticket is cancelled within three days of the train’s departure. Therefore, such cancellations could be only done by the passengers through internet.

Get live Share Market updates and latest India News and business news on Financial Express. Download Financial Express App for latest business news.