Booking train tickets has become a lot easier due to the internet and IRCTC – the online booking portal of Indian Railways. You no longer have to go to the railway station, wait in a long queue to book the ticket. It can be done from your computer or even a smartphone. However, things can get tricky when you have to cancel your plans for a train journey. If you don’t cancel your train ticket, you won’t receive the refunds. Knowing how to cancel train ticket can be a lot helpful in such situations. If you don’t know how to cancel train ticket online IRCTC won’t be able to help you in the problem. To help you in learning how to cancel train ticket we have prepared this step-by-step guide for you with all the instructions and rules.

How to Cancel The Ticket From IRCTC?

Online tickets, often referred to as E-tickets, are majorly booked through the official portal of Indian Railways – IRCTC. You should know that you can cancel the ticket you booked till the charts are printed. For the train that’s about to depart till the 12 in the noon the charts are printed on the previous night. You can cancel an E-ticket online only, and it can’t be done at railway ticket counters.

Following are the simple steps to cancellation:

1. Visit www.irctc.co.in from your computer or smartphone
2. Visit the ‘Booked Tickets’
3. Now, choose the ticket that you wish to be cancelled by clicking on the passengers to be cancelled
4. You’ll be notified once the cancellation is confirmed, the amount of refund would be returned to the account through which you booked it, train ticket cancellation charges are applicable
5. Regarding the partial cancellation, you need to print separately a fresh e-reservation slip also known as Electronic Reservation Slip.

Note: You can’t cancel the bookings once the charts are printed.

Guidelines For Filing TDR For E-tickets After The Charts are Printed

• The user won’t be able to receive the refunds if the tickets that have confirmed reservation are not cancelled or TDR(Ticket Depository Receipt) is not filled up within four hours before the train departs.
• You won’t be credited the refunds if you don’t cancel the RAC E-tickets or don’t file TDR online thirty minutes before the train departs.
• According to IRCTC ticket cancellation and refund policy, if a party E-ticket issued to more than one passenger, if some travellers get their reservation confirmed and other members are put on RAC/waiting list, a full refund and minimum clerkage are allowed.
  
• Upon filing up a TDR, the IRCTC makes sure to transfer the claim to the concerned railways to start the process of the refund. Soon the customer received the payment through the same account that was used to book the tickets. For any questions or complaints, write an email to [email protected].

The General Ticket Cancellation Policies One Must Know

The customers are imposed with charges on the basis of per passenger. If the confirmed ticket is cancelled before 48 hours of departure of the train, then deduction charges will be as follows:

• AC First Class/Executive Class – Rs.240/-
• AC 2 Tier/First Class – Rs.200/-
• AC 3 Tier/AC Chair Car/AC 3 Economy – Rs.180/-
• Sleeper Class – Rs.120/-
• Second Class – Rs.60/-

However, the ticket cancellation charges go up to 25% of the price, if you cancel the ticket within 48 hours and 12 hours before the train leaves.

The same charges go up by 50% if you cancel the ticket within 12 hours and up to 4 hours before the journey.  

In cases of the train getting cancelled in PRS due to any issue, the passengers get a complete return from the company if they cancel the ticket within three days of the departure.

Steps to Cancel Waitlisted or RAC Train Tickets

• Customers can cancel the RAC(Reservation Against Cancellation) tickets or waitlisted tickets up to thirty minutes before the train’s departure. The passengers get refunds after the deducting the clerkage charges.
• The clerkage fee of RAC and waitlisted tickets for Second Class (reserved) and other classes is about Rs.60/- each passenger.
• For the train that runs more than 3 hours late than the scheduled time, passengers get a full refund of RAC and waitlisted tickets, plus no cancellation charges. However, you must produce the ticket before the actual departure of the train to get the refund credited.  
• If you want to cancel your PRS(Passenger Reservation System) ticket, you are allowed a refund within three days, excluding the day of the journey.

Is a Refund Allowed on Cancellation of Tatkal Ticket?

Unfortunately, no. You don’t get any refund on cancellation of Tatkal train tickets. However, a passenger can ask for a refund if the train is running late more than 3 hours behind the departure schedule or is cancelled. For that, you must file a TDR.  

As far as the waitlisted Tatkal tickets cancellations, charges are deducted as per the ticket cancellation and refund policy in IRCTC. It is possible to cancel Tatkal E-ticket partially.

In case of partial cancellation, make sure to print a fresh e-reservation slip separately.

Final Words

Now that we have seen how to cancel IRCTC ticket, the steps to cancel irctc train ticket can help you easily cancel the ticket and save you valuable money. Make sure to carefully follow the steps to get the return on cancelled tickets.