The Indian Railways on Saturday announced to give full refund for all tickets booked for the period from March 21 to April 14. The above announcement was made due to cancellation of all trains for containing the spread of COVID-19 in the period.
The big announcement will be in addition to and in continuation to the relaxations in Refund Rules vide instructions released on March 21, 2020. Passengers who had booked tickets within the period of lockdown need to follow the procedure and apply for grant of refund amount.
1. PRS Tickets Booked At Counter
The passengers who had booked tickets at counter can apply for refund by the following methods.
a) Tickets cancelled before March 27: The passengers need to fill up Ticket Deposit Receipt (TDR) form providing the journey details. Next, the passenger has to file the form intimated to Chief Commercial Manager (CCM) Claims or Chief Claims Officer (CCO) of any Zonal Railways Head Quarters upto the period of June 21, 2020 to avail the balance refund amount. The Railways will provide a utility through which the passengers can avail the refund amount that was deducted during cancellation of such tickets.
b)Tickets Cancelled After March 27: Passengers who have/will cancel tickets after March 27 shall get full refund against such cancellations.
Read: COVID-19 Lockdown: Railways Extends Suspension Of Passenger Trains Till April 14
2. E-tickets:
a) Tickets Cancelled Before March 27: The passengers who had booked e-tickets and cancelled before March 27, 2020 will receive the full balance refund amount from the Railways directly to their account from which the ticket was booked. IRCTC will prepare a utility for dispensing the balance refund amount.
b) Tickets Cancelled After March 27: The passengers who have/will cancel the e-tickets after March 27 will receive full refund. The passengers shall be payable in respect of all such cancellations for which provisions have already been made.
It is pertinent to mention that the Indian Railways on March 22 had announced suspension of all its passenger services from March 22 midnight to March 31 midnight in the wake of novel coronavirus pandemic to break the chain of transmission of the deadly disease. The suspensions also included all suburban train services. But later on March 25, it had announced to extend the suspension of all passenger services till April 14.
The Railways had informed that passengers could claim a full refund for all trains cancelled in this period till June 21 amid the nationwide lockdown for Coronavirus outbreak.
Also Read: Coronavirus Outbreak: Railway Begins Thermal Screening Of Passengers In Running Trains