The Indian Railways clocked earnings of ₹1,229.85 crore from cancelled waiting list tickets between 2021 and 2024 (till January), a reponse to a query under the Right to Information Act has revealed.
The Railway Ministry response to the RTI application filed by Madhya Pradesh-based activist Vivek Pandey also showed that earnings from this source have increased year on year.
For instance in 2021, a total of 2.53 crore tickets on the waiting list were cancelled and the Railways earned ₹242.68 crore. This number rose to 4.6 crore tickets being cancelled in 2022 and the earnings soaring to ₹439.16 crore. In 2023, 5.26 crore tickets that were waitlisted were cancelled and the Railways cashed in ₹505 crore as a result. In 2024, in the month of January alone, 45.86 lakh tickets were cancelled, leading to earnings of ₹43 crore for the Railways.
“It is very clear that with limited capacity, the Railways is unable to cater to demand. They should gauge the demand pattern and avoid offering too many waiting list tickets,” a former Railway official told The Hindu.
“For instance, an 18-coach train has 720 seats in the sleeper compartment, and the Railways allots a waiting list of 600. There will be no scope for accommodating such a large number, and tickets are bound to get cancelled so they should recalibrate their waiting list thresholds,” the former official pointed out.
Deepavali week
Between November 5 and November 17 last year, during the Deepavali week, the Railways saw 96.18 lakh ticket cancellations. This number included those cancelling their confirmed, reservation against cancellation (RAC) and waiting list tickets.
Of these 96.18 lakh cancellations, 47.82 lakh cancellations (up to 49%) were those of waitlisted passengers from all quotas, shows data from the Centre for Railway Information Systems.
Only in the Deepavali week, the Railways clocked earnings of ₹10.37 crore as ‘total cancellation earning’ from all tickets having final status as waiting list.
If an RAC/waitlisted ticket is cancelled then ₹60 per passenger is deducted from the refund.
E-tickets bought online through IRCTC also attract a service charge that is not refunded when cancelled. The service charge is ₹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 per ticket booked using UPI.
