[Altrozed]

Indian Railways have found a new way to make money.
On the pretext of Non Interlocking NI works in KGP division, South Eastern Railways have cancelled several trains for a week or so in the HWH KGP VSKP section.
We have made some travel plans and booked tickets accordingly and then this PR in twitter and received SMS.

I understand the operational constraints and made alternative plans in other trains with break journeys.

Railways agreed to refund the full amount.

Now comes the twist that they have cancelled the "cancellation plan" of trains and restored it fully.

As a result, the PNR (ticket) became active again.
Now I'm having 2 tickets to same destination and IR now charges cancellation fee for the original ticket as well as alternative plan made.

Why is this April Fools joke played on passengers who book tickets well in advance and restore all of a sudden after waiting for couple of days ?
Remember that HWH VSKP SBC is an ultra busy route throughout the year and now asking for cancellation fee is a slap on our face.

Im attaching all the SMS, PRs and tweets supporting this joke.

Cancellation charge is 240₹+ GST

Before someone says that this isnt a big amount, IR earned 1900 cr last year only via cancellation funds.

Email to IRCTC resulted no benefit.

[deetee]

I can understand your frustration but I don't understand what you are expecting from posting screen shots and proofs of issue 'here'. Unfortunately, IPC doesn't allow class action lawsuits even you find a bunch of folks troubled by same issue. Railways are least bothered about automotive forums, even if this thread gains traction. 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.

[finneyp]

Indian Railways is making a loot with the high cancellation charges! They also scrapped the Senior Citizens concession!
Tweet @railminindia & minister @AshwiniVaishnaw and hope for an action.

[Altrozed]

Originally Posted by finneyp

Indian Railways is making a loot with the high cancellation charges! They also scrapped the Senior Citizens concession!
Tweet @railminindia & minister @AshwiniVaishnaw and hope for an action.

I have tweeted to all concerned and didn't get any response. I have sent emails to chief college collection officer SER.

Irctc help only reiterates that train is restored but doesn't accept that they have intially cancelled.

Now, either I have cancel manually and take loss worth cancellation fee OR
Hold the ticket to pass the travel date and then risk to file TDR and fight.

I'm going with latter way as I'm habituated fighting with IR since decades.
....

After this govt has taken up, they have scrapped several.
1. Free half ticket without berth they have scrapped.
2. Srctzn concession is gone.
3. Telescopic booking is gone behind the veil of GST.
4. 100s of passengers are converted to Express without any improvement in TT.
5. Cancellation charges are increased.
6. Dynamic fare slabs increased
7. Premium tatkal came into almost all trains
8. Dynamic fare is back into almost all duruntos.
9. Premium parking came into railway station
10. Platform ticket increased to 50₹ during festival seasons.

[thanixravindran]

I don't know how IR and IRCTC works. When they first announced cancellation of the train service, didn't they automatically refund the money? Or will they wait till the date of journey and then only refund the money if they continue with the cancellation plan?

[saket77]

Some rules are unfair when it comes to railways. Though yours is a one off case, another point in case are wait listed tickets. About an year ago, I booked a second AC ticket under waiting list 1 (W/L 1). As I understood that the final status will be displayed only after chart preparation which is about 3 hours prior to departure. I was confident that my ticket will be confirmed as it was W/L 1. However, against my expectations, the ticket didn’t get confirmed and was cancelled automatically by IRCTC as per the rules. So far so good and I’m not even complaining about the trouble it posed to my travel plans.

After a few days, I received the money back in my account with a deduction of over 100 bucks which I felt is totally unfair. The train went fully occupied. Plus neither I canceled the ticket on my own. There’s no revenue loss to the railways; still they deducted reservation charges plus some clerkage which my mind couldn’t get around with.

I would say RAC is even worse. You pay full fare and you need to share the same berth with an unknown person.

[Altrozed]

Originally Posted by deetee

I can understand your frustration but I don't understand what you are expecting from posting screen shots and proofs of issue 'here'. Unfortunately, IPC doesn't allow class action lawsuits even you find a bunch of folks troubled by same issue. Railways are least bothered about automotive forums, even if this thread gains traction. 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.

Frustrated initially that the train is cancelled and whole section of trains. As being close to Railways, I can understand this and made alternative plans. So far its good, although there was some additional expenses due to re-planning and IR would anyways transfer full money with zero loss.
within 2-3 days, they reversed their decision and restored the train.
Now, I am having 2 tickets to same destination, if I cancel any ticket, I would be losing money on cancellation charges.

There is nothing as proof as everything is there in public domain other than my SMS. Why did I post here ? Just to tell how Railways have got a grey area to make money. If this doesnt qualify here, feel free to delete.

Originally Posted by thanixravindran

I don't know how IR and IRCTC works. When they first announced cancellation of the train service, didn't they automatically refund the money? Or will they wait till the date of journey and then only refund the money if they continue with the cancellation plan?

This is the catch. They displayed a banner stating that refund would be automatically sent within 15 days and even that is reversed now. I cannot cancel ticket with zero loss nor file TDR as journey is yet to happen.

Now they have cancelled the return train also and it is the same process.
I cannot cancel the ticket nor file TDR and we dont know if they restore before the DOJ.

Originally Posted by saket77

Some rules are unfair when it comes to railways. Though yours is a one off case, another point in case are wait listed tickets. About an year ago, I booked a second AC ticket under waiting list 1 (W/L 1). As I understood that the final status will be displayed only after chart preparation which is about 3 hours prior to departure. I was confident that my ticket will be confirmed as it was W/L 1. However, against my expectations, the ticket didn’t get confirmed and was cancelled automatically by IRCTC as per the rules. So far so good and I’m not even complaining about the trouble it posed to my travel plans.

After a few days, I received the money back in my account with a deduction of over 100 bucks which I felt is totally unfair. The train went fully occupied. Plus neither I canceled the ticket on my own. There’s no revenue loss to the railways; still they deducted reservation charges plus some clerkage which my mind couldn’t get around with.

I would say RAC is even worse. You pay full fare and you need to share the same berth with an unknown person.

This is existing rules and some rules are definitely designed carefully to benefit railways but having grey areas and utilizing to make money isnt acceptable.

[lsjey]

This is what happens when there is a monopoly. Competition is important for performance and productivity. IR needs to be split into multiple units and sold to inject competition. The money from sale will go a long way in defraying other infrastructure development that India so desperately needs.

Regards,
Lsjey

[deathwalkr]

The less said about airlines cancellations, the better!

I understand the frustration with cancellation charges, seeing your hard earned money go down the drain like that. If I remember correctly, in case it is unfair practice, consumer courts have given favorable judgements in similar matters.

[d.w.w.]

Originally Posted by saket77

I was confident that my ticket will be confirmed as it was W/L 1. However, against my expectations, the ticket didn’t get confirmed and was cancelled automatically by IRCTC as per the rules.

We think the system is doing the allotment, but during the chart preparation its a human who decides who should get upgraded to a confirmed ticket from WL and who should not. If it is a peak season, there will be so much push for seats and some one up the ladder can claim the seats (like EQ, other quotas). If you have not reached RAC before chart preparation you are most likely to be pushed out.

Originally Posted by lsjey

This is what happens when there is a monopoly. Competition is important for performance and productivity. IR needs to be split into multiple units and sold to inject competition.

Have someone in the family working for IR and guess what, he is in total support for the privatization move. He complains of short staffed stations, extra work hours and claims these will become better only if gets out of govt hands. The only ones who don't want that to happen are the union folks whose only job is to roam around grow their pockets in the name on union.

Originally Posted by Altrozed

I have tweeted to all concerned and didn't get any response. I have sent emails to chief college collection officer SER.

If you have time, visit the booking office. Since they are aware of the situation, they might be able to help you. You may also try pgportal.

Mod Note : Please capitalise while starting your sentence / where-ever required.
Thanks.

[xway]

Well, sorry for my rant but cant help stating my observations and facts since 'some' years now with Indian railways.


- Differential fare added, so tickets are being sold at premium (even if you plan and book well in advance), extra cost anywhere between a whopping 2000 Rs. to 200 Rs.

- Fast trains even 3AC increased by almost double are higher than flight fares now. My personal experience travelling Delhi to Ahmedabad, Delhi to Kolkata

- Most trains converted to Fast and Superfast with no real change in time or facilities, to earn the extra premium charges.

- Transaction charges and Taxes on online payments introduced.

- Cancellation charges have been increased and on top of it GST is also charged.

- Bedding removed during corona time stating infection which is ok, but no reduction in fare

- Senior citizen concession removed

Yes, I am angry to pay Rs. 4500 (2AC) or Rs. 3400 (3AC) for Delhi to Kolkata for my senior citizen mother which earlier used to cost Rs. 1200 max for 2AC and Rs. 900 for 3AC. Thats a 300% hike.

So, things which you encountered are instructions right from the top, and solution cannot be expected.

Dont want to get political but the only affordable mode of transport i.e. trains have become out of reach for many, in name of bullet and vande bharat.

[StrikerK]

You are not alone with this IR and IRCTC nonsense. My family had a small vacation planned couple of months ago for onward journey on Day 1 and return on Day 2. Due to a goods train accident in the route a few hours before the journey, I got an SMS saying the onward train has been cancelled. Without any alternate journey plans available and knowing I would incur extra cancellation for return journey if I wait more, I immediately cancelled the return journey ticket. And left the onward journey ticket as it is thinking that I would anyway get the refund automatically for the cancelled train. Viola, and this is what happens within a few minutes: I get another SMS saying that the train that got cancelled is now restored.

All of this leads me to believe that the IR management is very indecisive and incapable of making proper decisions under pressure.

[khanmaj]

I would like to add another point, the catering charges in Shatabdi trains. A whopping Rs 275 for the return and Rs 125 for the starting journey. The quality and quantity of the food has degraded but the charges have been increased in multiples. This is in reference to the Delhi -Lko Shatabdi and vice versa.
I am not commenting on Rajdhani exp as I have never travelled in one.
If we consider how much we pay extra in terms of GST, booking, and superfast charges etc etc.. it's simply a Loot by IRCTC.

[Altrozed]

Originally Posted by StrikerK

You are not alone with this IR and IRCTC nonsense. My family had a small vacation planned couple of months ago for onward journey on Day 1 and return on Day 2. Due to a goods train accident in the route a few hours before the journey, I got an SMS saying the onward train has been cancelled. Without any alternate journey plans available and knowing I would incur extra cancellation for return journey if I wait more, I immediately cancelled the return journey ticket. And left the onward journey ticket as it is thinking that I would anyway get the refund automatically for the cancelled train. Viola, and this is what happens within a few minutes: I get another SMS saying that the train that got cancelled is now restored.

All of this leads me to believe that the IR management is very indecisive and incapable of making proper decisions under pressure.

Thank you for joining me. The original post is for the very same reason.

I'm ready to forgo money and then fight..
I'll surely file TDR once DOJ passes. The emails to Chief Commercial Collections officer is getting bounced and it's obvious too.

My return train is canceled and not restored but they are taking 15 working days for refund. Praying that they won't restore

[kovilkalai]

The original issue is absolutely a fair one. A business can't make a decision that forces its customers to make alternate plans and then reverse it and expect all the original terms and conditions to hold good. If this goes to consumer court, the court should rule in favour of the customer.

This aside, people seem to be ticked off about a lot of things the railways have stopped doing.

Why do so many of us believe that senior citizens need a concession? Even if a concession is necessary (as a social benefit), why does it have to be for all classes? Shouldn't it be just for the least expensive class? Considering that this is a government enterprise, the taxpayer is footing the bill for all these concessions. If you can pay for a 3AC, you don't need a concession.

The government does act on the principle that rail travel needs to be inexpensive. This why 2nd sitting and sleeper classes are still ridiculously inexpensive. However, there is no reason they need to fork over subsidies to those who can afford to travel by AC classes. If a flight ticket is cheaper, why not fly? You'll get to your destination faster.

There has to be some kind of disincentive for people who cancel tickets. Otherwise, there will be scores of people who book weekend tickets to their hometowns well in advance and cancel in the last minute if they don't plan on using the ticket. This would leave the Railways (or the airline) in a tough spot. It is a worse problem for airlines because their load factors are usually less than express trains on trunk routes. If you are truly unsure of your travel plans, airlines offer you the option of booking a higher, refundable fare. I seriously doubt that we will take kindly to the Railways adopting such sophisticated revenue management ideas.

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.