Railways earned over Rs 9,000 cr from cancelled and waitlisted ticket charges in last 3 years; maximum ticket purchases made online

Kota, Rajasthan: The Indian Railways earned over Rs 9,000 crore from ticket cancellation charges and non-cancellation of waitlisted tickets between 2017 and 2020, the national transporter has said in response to an RTI application.

The Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS), in response to the RTI application filed by Kota-based activist Sujeet Swami, said that in the three-year period from 1 January, 2017 to 31 January, 2020, there were over nine-and-a-half crore passengers whose waitlisted tickets were not cancelled. Such passengers brought the Indian Railways revenue of over Rs 4,335 crore.

In the same period, the railways earned over Rs 4,684 crore from cancellation fees of confirmed tickets, it has been revealed.

In both segments, earning was maximum from sleeper class tickets, followed by Third AC travellers, the RTI response added.

There is also a huge difference in the number of people buying railway tickets through Internet and those from counters. In the three-year period, over 145 crore passengers purchased tickets through Internet, while over 74 crore people went to railway counters.

Activist Swami who filed a plea in the Rajasthan High Court also alleged that the reservation policy of Indian Railways is discriminatory.

He said the difference in policies for online and counter reservation brings unnecessary financial and mental burden upon the passengers and it should be discontinued to give relief to passengers and to stop unfair revenue generation by the railways.