[Naetik30]

Originally Posted by deetee

I think you should file a case in consumer forum with IRCTC / Respective Divisional mangers as defendants. Alternatively, you can post on twitter tagging railway ministry and respective officials.

Lets just say - the OP does file a case on IRCTC and wins it . Basically the honest tax payers like you and me, will refund the cancellation charges to the OP. In some sense, he (tax payer) will pay himself (train passenger). While the railways official laughs at all of us.

Not judging here. Just stating the facts and the irony of the situation.

Originally Posted by kovilkalai

Just because a business is run by the government doesn't mean they have to run it at a loss. If one compares rail fares to air fares in other parts of the world, one isn't clearly cheaper than the other. In fact, the longer the journey, the more expensive rail fares tend to be.

Great handle name by - @kovilkalai.

I agree with you in most points. Government shouldn't run a business at a loss. It is another thing that - government shouldn't run any business at all. They should only govern, but a discussion for another day.

Back to the topic. With that measure - every government employee should be fired. Why should I as a tax payer pay for the free medical expenses, air travel of spouse and housekeeper of employees/babus/netas. And also fund the umpteen special tax benefits for government employees. And all this for just coming into office when they feel like and treat citizens like 'S**T'.

Just on a measure of running an efficient and profitable govt enterprise, every govt employee would lose their job. Please dont come back at me with 'oh there are honest hardworking govt employees'. When the majority is bad - the simple statement is - 'It is bad'. Sorry for the vitriol. But I am just fed up.

I would rather have crony capitalists run the show, than watch these govt employees act as though they own the rest of us, at the same time sucking the life blood of the country.

[Voodooblaster]

Seems IR has been using cancellation fee and dynamic pricing as a tool to increase revenue without explicitly increasing fares

News link and excerpt from it:

The Indian Railways has not made any major increase in passenger fare for the last couple of years, but has been earning significant amounts from its flexi fare scheme, cancellation charges and no concession for senior citizens.
Details of earnings under these categories between 2019 and 2022 showed that the Indian Railways earned more than Rs 10,404 crore from ticket cancellation charges and non-cancellation of waitlisted tickets between 2019 and 2022, making it earnings of Rs 7.12 crore per day on an average. The details were accessed by News18 through an RTI filing.

[ValarMorghulis]

Originally Posted by Voodooblaster

Seems IR has been using cancellation fee and dynamic pricing as a tool to increase revenue without explicitly increasing fares

What's wrong in cancellation charges? They are perfectly legitimate and valid for IR loses revenue and someone else loses a chance to book tickets.
And dynamic pricing is valid too. Standard market phenomenon. I mean I don't understand the reason for this thread and rant?

[vennarbank]

Add premium tatkal tickets in the mix. The premium tatkal fares are too high and it is like fleecing the desperate.

[thanixravindran]

Originally Posted by Voodooblaster

Seems IR has been using cancellation fee and dynamic pricing as a tool to increase revenue without explicitly increasing fares

News link and excerpt from it:

I don't understand the revenue earned by non cancellation of waitlisted tickets. I thought if the wait listed ticket does not become RAC or confirmed, it becomes auto cancelled and refunded. Is it not the case?

[Voodooblaster]

Originally Posted by ValarMorghulis

What's wrong in cancellation charges?

And dynamic pricing is valid too. Standard market phenomenon.

There is nothing wrong in cancellation charges per se. However OP had to pay penalty for no fault of his. He got a message from IR that his train was cancelled. For cancelled trains , IR is supposed to refund fare automatically. He booked ticket in another train. Few days later he received a message saying that the origins train had been restored. OP is now left with 2 tickets for no fault of his.

OP has to now cancel either of his ticket and suffer monetary loss as Cancellation charges are not exactly cheap.

In OP’s case IR should have refunded full amount. Now OP has to file TDR and hope to get full amount refund or risk cancellation charges

Many lower and middle class people depend on IR for various travel needs. Non AC coaches are used by them. Implementing dynamic price on those doesn’t seem fair

Let IR apply dynamic fare in Vande Bharat, Tejas, Shatabdi , Rajadhani. And provide best in class service with priority clearance for these premium trains. That way the common people won’t be heavily burdened in these inflationary times

Originally Posted by vennarbank

Add premium tatkal tickets in the mix. The premium tatkal fares are too high and it is like fleecing the desperate.

That’s true. Often Premium Tatkal fare for sleeper class overtakes that of 3AC due to dynamic pricing applicable in Premium Tatkal

Originally Posted by thanixravindran

I don't understand the revenue earned by non cancellation of waitlisted tickets. I thought if the wait listed ticket does not become RAC or confirmed, it becomes auto cancelled and refunded. Is it not the case?

Only online tickets in WL are auto cancelled. Physical tickets need to be cancelled separately. There is also a time limit within which a WL ticket has to be cancelled. Final charting of some trains happen as late as 30 minutes before departure of train. A desperate traveller will be waiting till that point. After that, the traveller would be hurrying to secure other means of transport instead of running behind refund, and forfeiting his entire amount

[ValarMorghulis]

Originally Posted by Voodooblaster

...However OP had to pay penalty for no fault of his. ...OP is now left with 2 tickets for no fault of his...

I understand this particular case. The rant is justified here but this is a one off exceptional case.

Originally Posted by Voodooblaster

...Many lower and middle class people depend on IR for various travel needs. Non AC coaches are used by them. Implementing dynamic price on those doesn’t seem fair

Let IR apply dynamic fare in Vande Bharat, Tejas, Shatabdi , Rajadhani. And provide best in class service with priority clearance for these premium trains. That way the common people won’t be heavily burdened in these inflationary times..

Why this distinction? AC coaches have higher fare too. And a lot of people depend on IR railways that doesn't mean simple dynamic prices should not be included. The passenger trains already are subsidized a LOT.
Also, who are these "common people" who seem to be separate from the market dynamic principles?
To cite an analogy:
Many families are dependent only on a two wheeler for their transport purposes. Should the govt. abolish tax from these and add them to the 4 wheelers? Does that make sense?

Originally Posted by Voodooblaster

...That’s true. Often Premium Tatkal fare for sleeper class overtakes that of 3AC due to dynamic pricing applicable in Premium Tatkal ...

The entire point of tatkal is to have an opportunity for last minute tickets if you haven't planned your journey. Plan your journey well in advance and you'll never face tatkal issues.

[Altrozed]

Originally Posted by thanixravindran

I don't understand the revenue earned by non cancellation of waitlisted tickets. I thought if the wait listed ticket does not become RAC or confirmed, it becomes auto cancelled and refunded. Is it not the case?

It's auto cancelled but you don't get 100% back. You lose certain charges like GST, Reservation charges.

[Altrozed]

Originally Posted by ValarMorghulis

I understand this particular case. The rant is justified here but this is a one off exceptional case.



The entire point of tatkal is to have an opportunity for last minute tickets if you haven't planned your journey. Plan your journey well in advance and you'll never face tatkal issues.

Thanks for understanding the concern. It's not RANT definitely. IR made to purchase 2 sets of tickets and forcing me to cancel with a loss.

Tatkal is fixed tatkal price over fixed base price.
Premium tatkal is loot. Day light robbery. Black ticketing. It's same set of tickets sold at same time with dynamic prices.


TIP for All.
If you are planning to buy a premium Tatkal ticket, always look for above class and then buy ticket of your choice.
The prices of higher classes don't jump to next slab when compared to lower classes.

[Altrozed]

As expected, IR rejected the TDR stating it's invalid. Only IR can do such things and their officers who wait for the month end. SWR is handling the refunds and none of their contact numbers or emails work.
You can't file TDR again if it's rejected.
The zones clearly knew that the train was scheduled to cancel and has to refund.
The return ticket is auto cancelled but not refunded yet.

Rail madad portal is next step.