Lok Sabha Question No. 5216 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-04-02
Subject: Refund of Cancelled Tickets
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Ananta Nayak

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.5216 TO BE ANSWERED ON 02.04.2025

## REFUND OF CANCELLED TICKETS

†5216.  SHRI ANANTA NAYAK:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the number of passengers cancelled their tickets and claimed refund due to train delays in train across the country during the previous year along with the number of passengers out of them received refund successfully;
- (b) the number of cases noticed where passengers did not get refund despite the  delay  in  train  for  three  hours  or  more  along  with  the  main  reasons therefor;
- (c) whether the Government is implementing any new scheme to make the railway ticket refund process faster, simpler and transparent; and
- (d) the  strategic  steps  taken/being  taken  by  the  Government  to  ensure punctuality of trains and to reduce inconvenience caused to passengers due to delays?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

- (a)  to (d) Refund on cancellation of tickets is granted as per provisions of Railway  Passengers  (Cancellation  of  Ticket  and  Refund  of  Fare)  Rules, 2015.    Tickets  can  be  cancelled  or  TDR  filed  as  the  case  may  be  under different circumstances.

Indian  Railways  continuously  strive  to  improve  the  methodology  of granting refund to the passengers. The steps taken to expedite refunds in recent past are as under:-

-  In  order  to  expedite  refunds,  the  cancellation  transactions  are  now reconciled on the day of cancellation and refunds are also initiated on the same day.
-  Refund  requests  are  now  processed  online  through  integration  of multiple  Information  Technology  (IT)  Applications  viz.  National  Train Enquiry System  (for Train running status), Hand  Held Terminal Application (For actual travel status), Passenger Reservation System (for  Booking  Status)  and  Next  Generation  E  Ticketing  System  (For filing of Refund request and processing of refund).

Indian  Railways makes all efforts to run trains as per their schedule and  punctually.  Punctuality  of  trains  is  dependent  on  various  factors  like asset  failure,  law  and  order  problem,  natural  calamities,  fog,  inclement weather conditions, etc.

With  a  view  to  improve  the  punctuality  of  trains,  IR  has  taken  a number of steps which include rigorous monitoring of running of passenger carrying  trains  at  Divisional  and  Zonal  levels,  standardization  of  rakes, removal of infrastructure bottlenecks in a planned manner, rationalization of Time Table in a scientific manner, conversion of trains from diesel traction to electric traction wherever feasible, conversion of conventional rakes of Mail /  Express trains ICF rakes (Integral Coach Factory design rakes) into LHB rakes (Linke Hofmann Busch rakes), provision of Bye-pass at stations to avoid engine reversal. Further, to ensure real time and realistic reporting of arrival /departure of passenger trains, data-loggers are being used.

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