Pune railway division earns ₹62 crore in revenue from ticket cancellations

The Pune division of the Central Railway (CR) has earned a revenue of ₹62.7 crore from cancelled tickets alone in the last financial year 2024-25, marking a significant rise of approximately ₹12 crore (24%) as compared to the previous financial year 2023-24 when the division earned a revenue of ₹50.48 crore from ticket cancellations alone.

The Pune railway division operates around 150 trains daily, with over 50 trains originating from Pune itself. Approximately 1.75 lakh passengers travel by train every day from this division. Trains heading north and to destinations at long distances from Pune are generally overcrowded, prompting passengers to book their tickets two to three months in advance. Due to unforeseen circumstances however, many passengers end up cancelling their confirmed tickets at the last minute. This trend of cancellations has proved to be a source of increasing revenue for the railway administration, especially after it reduced the window for advance ticket booking to two months. Alongside this change, a noticeable increase has been observed in the number of passengers cancelling confirmed tickets.

“When passengers cancel confirmed tickets, the railway deducts a cancellation fee before processing the refund. The deduction amount depends on several factors, such as the class of ticket, time of cancellation, and applicable GST (goods and services tax). If a ticket is cancelled between 48 hours and 12 hours before the train’s departure, 25% of the fare plus GST is deducted. If cancelled within 12 hours but up to four hours before departure, 50% of the fare and GST is deducted. Tickets cannot be cancelled if less than four hours remain before the scheduled departure of the train,” said Hemant Kumar Behera, Pune railway division spokesperson.

Harsha Shah, chairperson of the Railway Passengers’ Group, criticised the policy stating, “The railway is practically looting passengers under the guise of cancellation fees. Despite knowing the train’s capacity, many passengers are issued waitlisted tickets. Later, when these are cancelled, GST and other charges are deducted. There should be only a nominal cancellation charge.”

The sharp rise in ticket cancellation revenue raises questions about the fairness of ticketing and refund policies, especially in a public service like the Indian Railway that caters to millions of commuters across the country.