How to claim a refund from Indian Railways for cancelled trains

Hyderabad: Indian Railways has issued clear guidelines regarding the cancellation and refund of reservation tickets in cases of train cancellations. These rules, which are specifically for situations where trains are fully cancelled due to unavoidable circumstances such as accidents, floods, protests, or other disruptions.

According to Railway Refund Rules, if a train is fully cancelled due to reasons like accidents, breaches, floods, or protests, passengers holding tickets booked at the PRS counter must surrender their tickets at any PRS counter within 3 days of the scheduled departure. In such cases, passengers will receive a full refund of the fare for the entire journey without any cancellation charges.

For tickets booked online, such as e-tickets, the cancellation will be processed automatically, and the full refund will be credited directly to the passenger's bank account through IRCTC.

Indian Railways often faces situations that require the cancellation or diversion of train services due to events such as floods, law-and-order disturbances, or ongoing infrastructure works. While these disruptions are unavoidable, the Railways strives to minimize inconvenience to passengers. During such events, information about cancellations or changes in services will be shared through print media, electronic media, social media, and SMS notifications.

Passengers are advised to provide accurate mobile numbers while booking tickets to receive timely updates.

The South Central Railway (SCR) urges passengers to familiarize themselves with the refund rules and ensure that cancelled tickets are submitted within the specified time frame to claim a full refund.