The Ministry of Railways has decided to extend the time limit for cancellation of PRS counter tickets to up to nine months from the date of journey and refund of fare across reservation counters for the journey period March 21, 2020, to July 31, 2020. It is applicable only for regular timetabled trains cancelled by the Ministry of Railways.
In case of those train tickets cancelled through 139 or through the official e-ticketing IRCTC website, the time limit for surrendering of such tickets for the above-mentioned journey period across the reservation counter is up to nine months from the date of journey. The ministry had earlier extended the facility from three days to six months when the coronavirus pandemic had led to the cancellation of all regular trains.
After the lapse of six months from the date of the journey, many railway passengers may have deposited the tickets to the claims office of zonal railways through ticket deposit receipt (TDR) or through the general application along with original train tickets. The full refund of fare on such PRS counter tickets will also be allowed for such passengers.
Earlier comprehensive guidelines for cancellation of tickets and refund of fare due to COVID-19 situation had been issued. As per instruction for trains cancelled by Railways, relaxation had been given for submission of PRS counter tickets up to six months from the date of journey (instead of 3 days excluding day to journey) and in case the PRS counter tickets cancelled through 139 or through the website of IRCTC refund across the counter upto six months from the date of journey.
In October 2020, the railway board also decided to restore the pre-COVID system of preparing the second reservation chart 30 minutes before the scheduled departure of trains from stations. Do read the blog second charting restored if you want to know more about the same.
Soon after the lockdown was announced in March and regular train services were suspended due to the pandemic, the time limit for ticket cancellation was extended from three days to three months and in May it was extended to six months. This was done to restrict the number of passengers at counters and prevent transmission of the coronavirus. The railways have provided full refund to passengers where trains have been cancelled. For those passengers who booked e-tickets had received the refunds automatically in their respective accounts.
To delve deeper about the relaxed refund rules for PRS counters read onto the official circular released by the Ministry of Railways on PRS refund rules relaxed. Keep reading the Trainman blog to know the latest news on railways and COVID-19 virus. For an easy-peasy experience, book your train tickets through the Trainman app. Download the Trainman App to check PNR Status of the booked ticket, Running Status of special trains, train between stations and many such spellbound features.
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