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Indian Railways is bringing rescheduling policy for confirmed train tickets.Image Credit source: gemini

For crores of passengers traveling by Indian Railways, a news has come which will not only bring a smile on their faces but will also lighten the burden on their pockets. It often happens that due to some urgent work or change in plans, we have to change the date of our scheduled train journey. In the current system, this simply means getting the confirmed ticket cancelled, losing a huge amount as cancellation charge and then having to struggle all over again for a new ticket. But now this is about to change.

Actually, the Railway Ministry is going to make such a change, under which you can confirmed ticket You will be able to change the reschedule i.e. date of journey without canceling it. And the biggest thing is that you will not have to pay any fee for this, but in some cases the Railways will also return the money to you.

There will be no cancellation charge, you will also get extra money

This is the most attractive aspect of this new system. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav has announced that preparations are on to start this facility from January 2026. After the implementation of this rule, if you change the date of your travel, you will not have to pay a single rupee in the name of cancellation charge. What's more, if the ticket fare for your new journey is less than the fare of the old ticket, the Railways will return the remaining amount to your account.

Understand it this way, dynamic fare system is implemented in premium trains like Rajdhani or Shatabdi, that is, the fare increases or decreases according to the demand. Suppose on the date you booked the ticket, the fare due to dynamic charge was Rs 2000. Now the fare on the new date you want to travel is only Rs 1500. In this situation, Railways will refund you the difference of fare i.e. Rs 500. This is like a double relief for the passengers – firstly, there is no charge for changing the date and secondly, the possibility of getting the money back.

The rules will change from January 2026

The Railway Minister has directed the officials of Railways, IRCTC and CRIS to work together to turn this ambitious plan into reality. To start this facility, the railway software and booking system will be completely updated. Its responsibility has been given to the technical branch of the Railways, Center for Railway Information Systems (CRIS). This facility may be available to common passengers by January 2026.

There is such a system now

If we talk about the existing rules, this process is quite complex and expensive. At present, if a passenger has to change the date of his journey, he has no option but to cancel the old confirmed ticket. On cancellation of tickets, Railways charges cancellation charges according to the class. This charge ranges from Rs 60 to Rs 240 per passenger. Not only this, there is also a reservation charge on every ticket, which is non-refundable. That means, if the ticket is cancelled, this money is lost.

For example, if you cancel an AC First Class ticket 48 hours before the departure of the train, a cancellation charge of Rs 240 is deducted. Also, the reservation charge and GST imposed on it are also not refundable. In this way, if a ticket is cancelled, the passenger suffers a loss of hundreds of rupees.

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