Rules For Advance Rail Reservation & Cancellation Through IRCTC

Indian Railways and IRCTC have developed a system for advance booking of Rail tickets as well as cancellation of booked tickets through Internet. The Web site for online booking is www. irctc.co.in. The process of booking an E-Ticket is easy and convenient. Registration on the website is free. For any assistance/ query about e-tickets, please send an e- mail to care@irctc.co.in or talk to the customer care executive at helpline number 011-39340000.

Travel on SMS

E-Ticketing by IRCTC is helpful in protecting environment by saving paper. E-ticket holders are now permitted to travel without printout of ticket and can travel with SMS sent by IRCTC along with valid Photo ID proof in original.

Procedure of Booking E-Ticket

Customer should register in the www.irctc.co.in website to book tickets. Registration is free.
Before registration, customer should go through the “Terms and Conditions” which are available in the website.
Customer is allowed to register only one user ID with correct details of e-mail, mobile no., etc.
Full fare tickets including Tatkal, Child tickets, tickets for physically challenged persons and senior citizens at concessional rates can be booked through the website. E-tickets can be booked for journey between any two stations on the route of the train including originating station and destination.
E-Tickets can also be booked using mobile phone by visiting IRCTC mobile website www.irctc.co.in/mobile.
When ticket is successfully booked an SMS will be sent to the customer detailing the PNR, ticket status, fare charged etc. During the journey even if one passenger booked on an e-ticket presents any of the ten Identity Cards mentioned below in original, the same is accepted as proof of identity:

1. Voter Identity Card issued by Election Commission of India,

2. Passport,

3. PAN Card, issued by Income Tax Department of India,

4. Driving License issued by RTO,

5. Photo Identity Card issued by Central/State Governments,

6. Student Identity Card with photograph issued by recognized school/college for their students,

7. Nationalized Bank passbook with photograph,

8. Credit Card issued by Bank with laminated photograph as a proof of identity and

9. Unique Identification Card ‘Aadhar’ issued by Govt. of India

10. Photo identity cards having serial number issued by Public Sector Undertakings of State/Central Government, District Administrations, Municipal bodies and Panchayat Administrations.

If none of the passengers is carrying any proof of Identity as mentioned above, all the passengers will be treated as travelling without ticket and shall be charged accordingly. If the passengers fail to carry the Electronic Reservation Slip (ERS)/ SMS sent by IRCTC containing journey details, a penalty of Rs.50/- will be imposed by the Ticket Checking Staff.

Timings for Internet Reservation

Tickets on Internet can be booked from 00:30 hrs to 23:45 hrs on all days.

Service Charge for E-ticket:

Service charge of Rs.20/- for Second/Sleeper Class and Rs.40/- in case of all other higher classes (1AC, 2AC, 3AC, CC, 3E, FC) per e-ticket is applicable, irrespective of the number of passengers (maximum six) booked on an e-ticket. Service Tax is extra.

Payment for booking E-tickets:

Payment can be made by using all Master/ Visa /Amex cards.
Account holders of major banks viz. State Bank of India, PNB, Indian Bank, ICICI, HDFC, etc. can also use Net Banking/ Debit Cards facility for making payments for tickets booked through internet.
Customers can also use various Cash Cards for making payments.
Payment can also be made through IMPS (Immediate Payment Service) provided by National Payments Corporation of India.

Precautions While Buying e-Tickets From Authorised Agents

Demand a receipt from the e-ticketing agent for the payment made for booking ticket.
Ensure that the Agent has valid Authorisation Certificate issued by respective Principal Agent. List of authorised agents is also available on Home Page of www.irctc.co.in under ‘Agents’ section. In order to facilitate availability of website to individual users, e-ticket agents are debarred from booking tickets during the 1^st 30 minutes of opening of booking i.e. from 08.00 to 08.30 hrs for general bookings and from 10.00 to 10.30 hrs and 11.00 to 11.30 hrs for Tatkal Bookings in AC & Non AC classes respectively
Check carefully all the details viz. Stations, Date, Fare, Service Charges, Age, Class etc. printed on the E-Ticket,
Please insist that your Mobile number is printed on E-ticket. You will receive SMS on your mobile phone regarding details of your bookings including the fare and the service charge.
Cross-check the actual cost of your E-Ticket with the SMS received from IRCTC.
If the agent demands more than the prescribed service charge, you can also lodge a complaint at agentcomplaint@irctc.co.in

Service Charge:

On IRCTC website: Rs.20/- for Sleeper Class, 2S class tickets and Rs. 40/- per ticket for other higher classes.(Service Tax extra).
There is no Agent Service charge for cancellation of ticket.

Cancellation And Refund Of E-Ticket

An E-ticket cannot be cancelled at any Reservation counter of the Railways. It can only be cancelled online.

A. Cancellation Before Charting

The passenger can cancel the E-Ticket before preparation of reservation chart of the train by logging in his User ID and password on the irctc.co.in. Reservation Charts are normally prepared 4 hours before departure of the train from Train originating station. Cancellation is not possible through any other User ID and password. Upon cancellation of ticket, IRCTC will process the refund electronically and credit the amount in same account which was used at the time of booking of tickets.

B. Cancellation After Charting

1. For Confirmed Tickets

The passengers will have to make an online request through filing TDR (Ticket Deposit Receipt). The claim will be processed by Zonal Railways Claims Offices by Train Chart verification, Train Running information etc., available with them and decide admissibility of refund. On receipt from Railways, IRCTC will refund the amount electronically to the passengers account. The passenger is not required to approach any railway counter for the purpose of cancellation.

2. Fully Wait Listed Tickets:

a. Fully waitlisted tickets are those tickets in which on one PNR, all the passengers are on waitlist. Such PNRs are dropped from the reservation charts at the time of preparation of Final Train Charts and refund is credited to customer account automatically.

b. Such passengers are not required to send online request for cancellation. IRCTC will cancel such tickets after due verification and process refunds electronically.

c. On a PNR which has all the passengers on waiting list at the time of charting, the name of such waitlisted passengers will not appear in the charts and such passengers, if found travelling, will be treated as unauthorized and charged accordingly. However, on a PNR which has some passengers confirmed or RAC status and some on waiting list, all the names including those on waiting list will appear in chart.

3. Part confirm/ RAC/ Waiting List

a. If on one PNR there is more than one passenger and at least one passenger is having confirmed/ RAC status and rests are on waiting list, names of all the passengers booked on such PNR will appear in the chart.

b. A certificate can be obtained from the Ticket Checking staff in the train regarding non-travelling of wait-listed passengers on such tickets and refund can be obtained thereafter by sending online TDR request. Such request will be processed by Zonal Railway Claims Offices.
c.If all such passengers do not want to travel before chart preparation, online cancellation can be done as at present. However, after chart preparation, online request can be filed through TDR. Zonal Railways Claims Offices will process TDRs by verification from Train Reservation Charts and decide admissibility of refund amount. IRCTC will arrange the refund to customer’s account on receipt from Railways as per extant refund rules.

IRCTC and Indian Railways Additional Resources: