CHENNAI: Even as the Indian Railway has announced that ticket fare for trains booked from March 21 to May 3 will be fully refunded, text messages sent to passengers from the IRCTC has caused confusion among many. Passengers holding both non-AC and AC tickets received alerts saying refund was processed after deducting the cancellation fee.
S Jegan of Sivaganga received a message saying Rs 160 would be refunded against the ticket fare of Rs 280, for a travel from Karaikudi to Tambaram, in Rameswaram-Chennai Express. “IRCTC has deducted Rs 120 as cancellation fee for this sleeper class ticket. Rs 60 was deducted for another cancellation of a ticket from Tambaram to Tiruchy in Vaigai Express,” he said.
A few AC ticket holders too say, they have lost Rs 25-100 per ticket, regardless of their ticket status. A passenger who booked AC chair car in Vijayawada-bound Jan Shatabdi got a refund of Rs 685, against the actual fare of Rs 707. Meanwhile, a few passengers who cancelled their tickets for journeys scheduled during the first phase of lockdown (between March 21 and April 14), were yet to recieve their refund amount.
S Arunkumar of Korattur said, “I paid Rs 3,256 for a second AC ticket from Thiruvananthapuram to Chennai, in Ananthapuri Express on March 21, but received only Rs 2,800 after cancellation. For another ticket which got cancelled automatically, I haven’t received any refund yet.”
Railway officials said the delay in processing the refund was due to technological limitation of the IRCTC portal, which was not designed to handle high volumes like this. “The issues in deduction are being looked into, and would be sorted out at the earliest,” said an official.
Train tickets booked
39 lakh
April 15 to May 3, through IRCTC