Once your railway ticket is confirmed, you cannot cancel it after the chart preparation. However, you can file a Ticket Deposit Receipt (TDR) with a valid reason to check whether you are eligible for a refund or not. In such cases, it will entirely depend on the Zonal Railway Division to grant you a refund. It will be up to the Zonal Railway Office whether they accept the reason for filing a TDR request and how much refund you will get.
“Users are requested to use the online TDR filing for such cases (ticket cancellation after preparation of chart) and track the status of the refund case through tracking service provided by IRCTC. TDR can be filed as per Railway rules,” says the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) on their website.
“However, please note that the decision about the acceptance/rejection or amount of refund (through TDR) will be taken by the concerned Zonal Railways as per extant Refund rules of Indian Railways and not by IRCTC,” said the IRCTC on e-mail to a customer who filed a TDR request.
Do remember that you can only file TDR online once you cancel your confirmed railway ticket. For e-tickets, you can cancel it online and then file a TDR. If you have bought your tickets from the railway counter (i.e., offline), then you need to cancel your tickets first and then file a TDR. You can go to your nearest railway ticket booking counter to cancel your tickets.
What is the maximum time limit by which TDR can be filed
IRCTC also mentioned that “No refund of fare shall be admissible on the ticket having confirmed reservation in case ticket is not canceled or TDR not filed online up to four hours before the scheduled departure of the train.”In the case of RAC tickets, an individual needs to cancel the ticket and file TDR up to 30 minutes before the departure of the train.Also read: What are the IRCTC e-ticket cancellation rules
How can you get a refund for train tickets cancelled after the preparation of the chart?
To get a refund for the cancellation of a railway ticket after the preparation of the chart, a process called TDR- Ticket Deposit Receipt filing has to be used. If a railway ticket is canceled before the preparation of the chart, no TDR is required to be filed.
Here’s how you can file a TDR on IRCTC Rail Connect App:
Step 1: Open the IRCTC Rail Connect App and log in.
Step 2: Select ‘Train’ and then go to ‘My Bookings’.
Step 3: Select and click on the train ticket which needs to be cancelled.
Step 4: Click the menu button (represented by three dots) on the upper right side. Click ‘Cancel’.
Step 5: Once cancelled go back to the main dashboard of the ‘Train’ page. Click on ‘File TDR’. Then, select the train ticket and the reason why you are filing a TDR request. There would be a drop-down menu for putting in the reason, select the one relevant for you.
IRCTC Rail Connect App
Source: IRCTC Rail Connect App
Here’s how you can use the IRCTC Website to file a TDR request
Step 1: Log in to IRCTC Website-https://www.irctc.co.in/nget/train-search and log in.
Step 2: Go to your booked tickets section and cancel the ticket first. Then go to the ‘File Ticket Deposit Receipt (TDR) section under the ‘Services’ tab.
Step 3: A new webpage will open where you will have to click on the ‘File TDR’ button under the ‘My Transactions’ tab. Put in the request for cancelling the ticket and filing TDR and click on submit.
What happens after a TDR request is filed?
After the online TDR request is filed, IRCTC will send an email. The email reads: “We wish to inform you that your request for refund against PNR Number ……..for the reason “ALL Confirmed Passenger Not Travelled”, has been received, and the Reference No for this is:……….The case is being forwarded to the concerned Zonal Railways to process refund through EDR/ Enhanced Coaching Refund System of Indian Railways (ECRS) under the present commercial rules.”
Regarding the timeline for such refunds, IRCTC said “The EDR refund process normally takes 7 days. You will be informed by mail about the decision of the concerned Zonal Railways for your TDR request. You can also view the status online under TDR History.”
What happens in case of cancellation of RAC tickets?
RAC tickets are issued by Indian Railways to accommodate passengers who are on waiting lists. Sometimes RAC tickets are issued while purchasing the tickets and sometimes RAC tickets are issued after preparation of the chart.
According to the IRCTC ticket cancellation guidelines published on its website, “In case, on a party e-ticket or a family e-ticket issued for travel of more than one passenger, some passengers have confirmed reservation and others are on RAC or waiting list, a full refund of fare, less clerk, shall be admissible for confirmed passengers also subject to the condition that the ticket shall be canceled online or online TDR shall be filed for all the passengers up to thirty minutes before the scheduled departure of the train.”