Cancellation fee from wait listed passengers
Asper Railway Rules for refund of wait listed ticket which could not be confirmed till preparation of chart:
1. Ticket need to be presented for cancellation half an hour before scheduled departure of train
2. An amount of Rs. 60/- shall be deducted towards clerkage charges which prior to 12.11.2015 was Rs. 30/-
Both these rules seems to be anti-consumer. First of all when it is wait listed, why half an hour prior to the departure of train should be stipulated. In a case of hard copy of ticket the intending person looks to be penalised as the confirmation or otherwise is known at the time of preparation of chart and the person had to rush for its refund and then if the intended person reaches in time, another amount of Rs. 60/- gets deducted. Railway is also making huge amount of interest during the period of buying the ticket and taking the refund.
During the year 2016-17 and 2017-18, the number of passengers who were wait listed at the time of preparation of chart were 28 Million and 29 Million respectively. An amount of Rs. 12928 million and Rs. 13721 million respectively was collected from the wait listed passengers and an amount of Rs. 716 million and Rs. 877 million was deducted towards clerkage charges while making refund during 2016-17 and 2017-19 respectively.
While an amount of Rs. 7416 million during 2016-17 and Rs. 9138 million during 2017-18 which was collected from the wait listed passengers who could not get confirmation at the time of chart preparation was retained by the Railways during the period between booking and refund, still the deducting such a huge money of Rs. 716 million and Rs. 877 million seems to be unethically as basically these passengers could not be provided confirmed seats by the Railways. In other words it seems to be reward for its own deficiency.
It is learnt that even if there are so many passengers are left waiting, the tatkal booking on high prices are adapted. Should Railways not to revisit its cancellation charges for clerkage fee from wait listed passengers. Members may like to suggest for Railways reconsideration. more
1. Ticket need to be presented for cancellation half an hour before scheduled departure of train
2. An amount of Rs. 60/- shall be deducted towards clerkage charges which prior to 12.11.2015 was Rs. 30/-
Both these rules seems to be anti-consumer. First of all when it is wait listed, why half an hour prior to the departure of train should be stipulated. In a case of hard copy of ticket the intending person looks to be penalised as the confirmation or otherwise is known at the time of preparation of chart and the person had to rush for its refund and then if the intended person reaches in time, another amount of Rs. 60/- gets deducted. Railway is also making huge amount of interest during the period of buying the ticket and taking the refund.
During the year 2016-17 and 2017-18, the number of passengers who were wait listed at the time of preparation of chart were 28 Million and 29 Million respectively. An amount of Rs. 12928 million and Rs. 13721 million respectively was collected from the wait listed passengers and an amount of Rs. 716 million and Rs. 877 million was deducted towards clerkage charges while making refund during 2016-17 and 2017-19 respectively.
While an amount of Rs. 7416 million during 2016-17 and Rs. 9138 million during 2017-18 which was collected from the wait listed passengers who could not get confirmation at the time of chart preparation was retained by the Railways during the period between booking and refund, still the deducting such a huge money of Rs. 716 million and Rs. 877 million seems to be unethically as basically these passengers could not be provided confirmed seats by the Railways. In other words it seems to be reward for its own deficiency.
It is learnt that even if there are so many passengers are left waiting, the tatkal booking on high prices are adapted. Should Railways not to revisit its cancellation charges for clerkage fee from wait listed passengers. Members may like to suggest for Railways reconsideration. more
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as per current rule wait listed passengers booked through website get refund automatically. From PRS you have to go counter for cancellation. The Charges are raised to reduce the agent interference & fraud booking. when there was less cancellation fee fraud booking was more & now although it is there the proportion is less. The cancellation Time should be increased to 24 hrs from Dep. of the train for more than 1000 KMS. 12 hrs for more than 500 lms but less than 1000 KMS & 4 hrs for travel upto 200 KMS. If the passengers do not want to take risk of Rs. 65 /00 then pl. do not book the tickets. If you really want to travel then only take risk. Rs. 65 /00 is not big amount considering the printing , paper , electrical & other charges. it is reasonable. I am also common man travelling by railway frequently. more
Jan 25
The points raised in he post do merit for a re-look by the railways and the amount so deducted in respect of wait listed tickets should be barest minimum. Similarly, the cancellation charges for confirmed tickets are also unreasonably high even if the cancellation is done 48 hrs earlier than the scheduled departure time of the specific train. The railways should review the issue and bring down such charges to make them reasonable and justified. more
Jan 09
My point of view is when the wait listed ticket is cancelled by passengers then cancellation charges is only applied from railway and when the wait listed ticket is not upgraded/confirmed and remains still wait list then railway must not ask passengers for any cancellation charges because railway is unable to provide the confirm ticket even for RAC also it must be applicable while only half of the ticket fare amount must be charged from those passengers who agree to travel in RAC birth irrespective of travel class. more
Jan 08
Why cancellation before half an hour of departure is stipulated ?.There are instances when confirmed ticket holder could not catch the train in time or there can be last minute cancellation of tickets by the confirmed passengers.In such cases why wait-listed passengers cannot be accommodated.Wait listed passengers should be allowed to cancel the tickets even after the departure of the train with in a specified time say with in 2hrs or in case of night trains till the opening of booking counter ,next morning .Charging clerical charges also is unfair as he has paid the money without any interest to the Railways and he has already suffered due to non-availability of seats in the train. more
Jan 08
A Different Topic: I have written to a number of senior railway officials several times on a simple issue of a person rollicking and unbalancing oneself in Indian type of toilets. Needless to say that, no one has paid any attention. I wish to make this issue public through local circles, hoping that some railway high ups will notice, with the support of the thinking local circle members. It is common knowledge that, a moving train constantly swings to the right and left by a few degrees, the swinging increasing as the speed of the train is higher. This aspect makes a person standing or sitting in an Indian type of toilet swing and getting unbalanced. You would have noticed persons standing with shoulders in the direction of the moving train are sure to unbalance and fall forward or backward. If one stands with his shoulders perpendicular to the direction of the moving train, his feet help him to stabilize by automatically keeping the center of gravity within the body profile and he will be stable. This aspect can be clearly understood by the fact that while standing in front of a wash basin on a moving train, no body tends to loose balance. Contrarily, if a person stands near a toilet for urinating etc., he is sure to swing backward and forward until he is forced to seek a support, which is not there, resulting in his head knocking the toilet wall, with the risk of injury. This malady is more pronounced if one is sitting in the Indian type of toilet. The whole problem can be solved simply by turning the direction of the toilet seat by 90 degrees, so that a man sits or stands with his shoulders perpendicular to the direction of the train. The risk of getting injuries will be totally eliminated and the person would feel comfortable while attending to nature calls. I request the honorable members to think about it and pass your comments, so that the railway high ups may get to feel that there is a problem and think of the remedy, soon. more
Jan 08
Mr Rao - well reasoned and logical. Suggest you resubmit as Resource. Likely to be noticed earlier and taken for due consideration by Local Circles. more
Jan 09
