The Indian Railways has made some major changes to its ticket cancellation fee. From now on, if you cancel your ticket between 24 to 72 hours before the train departs, you will lose 25% of the ticket fare as a deduction.
And if you cancel the ticket less than 8 hours before departure, you will get zero refund — no money will be returned at all. The revised rules will now come into effect in phases between April 1 and April 15, 2026.
Penalty for late cancellations
Cancellation charges go up the closer you are to departure. If you cancel between 24 hours and 8 hours before the journey, 50% of your ticket fare will be cut, along with the minimum applicable charge. If the cancellation is done within 8 hours of departure, the ticket amount will not be refunded.
| Time Before Departure | Cancellation Rule | Details |
| More than 72 hours | Maximum refund | Flat cancellation charge per passenger is deducted |
| 72 hours to 24 hours | Standard penalty window | 25% of the fare is deducted (subject to minimum charge) |
| 24 hours to 8 hours | Late cancellation | 50% of the fare is deducted (subject to minimum charge) |
| Less than 8 hours | No refund | No refund is allowed |
This is not the only big change Indian Railways made recently. Last year, the railways brought in several important updates to stop misuse of the booking system.
Starting October 1, 2025, anyone booking a reserved ticket under the general quota on the IRCTC website or app must complete Aadhaar authentication during the first 15 minutes of the booking window.
The idea is simple: make sure real passengers get a fair chance at tickets instead of agents or bots grabbing them quickly.
Before that, from July 1, 2025, Aadhaar verification was made compulsory even for Tatkal tickets.
These urgent tickets can now only be booked after Aadhaar authentication, and only through the official IRCTC website or mobile app.
Railway agents have also been given new restrictions.
They are not allowed to book Tatkal tickets during the first 30 minutes of the opening window on the day of booking. That means no Tatkal bookings by agents from 10:00 am to 10:30 am for AC classes and from 11:00 am to 11:30 am for non-AC classes.