GUWAHATI: The Indian Railways earned almost ₹1230 crore from cancelled waiting list tickets, an RTI response from the Ministry of Railways revealed.
The data was disclosed on X by an RTI activist Vivek Pandey who had sought information about the number of waiting list tickets booked and cancelled by Indian Railways.
The #IndianRailways clocked earnings of ₹1,230 crore from cancelled waiting list tickets, including tatkal (between yr 2021 to jan 2024) Reveals #RTI filed by me.
— Dr Vivek Pandey (@Vivekpandey21) March 20, 2024
Why railways charge cancellation fee even when passengers don't get a seat ? Another money making strategy ? pic.twitter.com/JmOLse8VGp
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The data revealed that the Railways had booked almost 40,41,99,543 waitlisted tickets in the last three years from January 2021 to December 2023, and a total of 12,40,35,415 tickets were cancelled by the respective passengers from which the Railways earned almost ₹1230 crore.
The data also showed the increase in number of waiting list tickets booked and cancelled.
In 2021, a total of 2.53 crore tickets on the waiting list were cancelled by passengers from which the Railways earned ₹242.68 crore. The number rose to 4.6 crore tickets which were cancelled in 2022 as the earnings for the Railways increased to ₹439.16 crore. While in 2023, a total of 5.26 crore waitlisted tickets were cancelled, from which the Railways earned ₹505 crore.
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The RTI data from the first month of 2024 showed that a total of 45.86 lakh tickets were cancelled, leading to earnings of ₹43 crore for the Railways in January alone.
The process of booking and cancellation of a Railway ticket is such that if an RAC/waitlisted ticket is cancelled then ₹60 charge is levied per passenger and is deducted from the refund amount. Additionally, in case of e-tickets bought online through IRCTC website, the service charge levied during booking of the ticket is also not refunded upon cancellation. The service charge can go up to ₹30 for air-conditioned classes in case the ticket is booked using net banking or through debit and credit cards, and ₹20 per ticket if booked through UPI. For non-AC classes, the charge is ₹15 per ticket (net banking or card) and ₹10 if the ticket is booked using UPI.
