IRCTC Ticket Cancellation Before And After Chart Preparation: Rules And Other Details

IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation) allows online cancellation of e-tickets via its official website- irctc.co.in or mobile app. The online tickets cannot be cancelled at any reservation counter of Indian railways. It can only be cancelled or TDR (Ticket Deposit Receipt) may be filed online as the case may be as per refund rule, said Indian Railways on its portal- indianrailways.gov.in. Upon cancellation of ticket/TDR filing, IRCTC process the refund electronically and credit the amount in same account which was used at the time of booking of tickets. 

Cancellation before charting

If the user wishes to cancel his/her e-ticket before chart preparation, he/she can log on to irctc.co.in and go to 'Booked Tickets' link and select the ticket to be cancelled and initiate the cancellation process. For train starting up to 12 noon the chart preparation is usually done on the previous night.

Cancellation after charting

After charting is done, confirmed tickets can still be cancelled and TDR can be filed online up to 4 hours before the scheduled departure of the train for refund of fare.

In case of fully waitlisted tickets (those tickets in which on one PNR, all the passengers are on waitlist), the PNR (Passenger Name Record) is dropped from the reservation charts at the time of preparation of final train charts and refund is credited to customer account automatically. Such passengers are not required to send online request for cancellation. IRCTC cancel such tickets after due verification and process refunds electronically, said Indian Railways.

However, on a PNR which has some passengers confirmed or RAC (Reservation Against Cancellation) status and some on waiting list, all the names including those on waiting list appear in chart. 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. 

If all such passengers do not want to travel before chart preparation, online cancellation TDR may be filed as the case may be, said Indian Railways.