Train ticket cancellation service over phone to be launched soon

Train passengers will now be able to cancel their reserved tickets booked through counters by dialing 139 as the Railways will be launching the phone ticket cancellation service shortly.

To begin with the service can be availed only by passengers whose train departure timings is between 11 PM and 6 AM. The software required for the cancellation over phone is ready and currently under trials, said a senior Railway Ministry official.

In the phone ticket cancellation service, passengers can call 139 and give details of their confirmed ticket for cancellation and they will receive a one-time password (OTP). They can visit the nearest ticket counter till 10 AM next morning after cancellation over phone and provide the OTP to claim refund.

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The official said the cancellation over phone facility is for people who booked ticket from counters. For other passengers, whose scheduled departure does not fall in the 11 PM-6 AM window, the existing rule of four hours cancellation from the time of departure will be applicable.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has announced the launch of this service in the railway budget this year.

Few months back, Ticket jugaad a phone app was launched. Where users need to enter their current location, desired destination, and preferred train number (optional). The app automatically finds available tickets starting from stations before or after the user’s source station with remaining ticket quota. It then combines all of the routes to provide the maximum path that the user can cover with the confirmed ticket. Users can then book tickets through the app with their integration with Cleartrip, their authorised ticket provider.

Cousin-duo of Shubham Baldava and Runal Jaju started working on Ticket Jugaad in October 2015. Ticket Jugaad optimises ticket booking in trains, using a unique and efficient algorithm that gives an alternative ticket option in the same train by identifying empty routes in the journey in cases of unavailable tickets as shown by IRCTC.