Railway cancels Passenger Trains between July 1 & August 12: Know the refund rules

Indian Railways on Thursday cancelled regular time-tabled passenger services including Mail/Express, passenger and suburban services across the country till August 12, 2020. Further, people who made the bookings for these train services between July 1 and August 12 will also get a full refund, the railway ministry said in a statement.

"All tickets booked for the regular timetabled trains for journey dates from 1.07.2020 to 12.08.2020 may be cancelled and full refunds generated," the railway board said yesterday.

However, the special Rajdhani trains that started from May 12, 2020, will be functional. The railways also introduced 200 special mail and express train services, starting from June 1, 2020, and those trains will remain operational till August 12, 2020.

Here is the process to get your refunds

The national transporter earlier announced a detailed guideline on how to get a refund for your railway tickets. Take a look on refund rules

All those who booked from the railway counter will be eligible to apply for a refund from the date of the journey to six months. To get the refund, passengers will have a file a TDR (Ticket Deposit Receipt) at the station. Submit the TDR within 2 months to chief claim officer or chief commercial manager refund's office. The refund will be processed after verification.

People who booked the tickets online will get an automatic refund on their accounts.

Passenger can also cancel PRS counter tickets from the official website of IRCTC. Ticket cancellation is also allowed through 139. For this purpose, the passenger will have to apply to claim the refund balance amount of cancellation charge, which should be addressed to the offices of chief claim officers or chief commercial manager or refund (CCM-Refund) of concerned zonal railway headquarters through the post of prescribed format within six months of scheduled journey.

The Indian Railways have already refunded Rs 1,885 to passengers who booked tickets during the lockdown period.

On May 14, 2020, the Railways had cancelled all regular train tickets booked for travel till June 30 and decided on full refunds. Those who have already cancelled their tickets for journey period starting from March 21, 2020, can apply for a refund of the balance amount of cancellation charges that was deducted.

The railways had introduced Shramik Special trains from May 1, 2020, to transport stranded migrant workers, pilgrims, students and tourists. The railways then launched 15 pairs of Special AC trains from May 12, 2020, and 200 timetabled trains from June 1, 2020.