Indian Railways ferries 2.4 crore passengers daily and runs around 13,000 trains per day. The ticket booking has become easy with the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) portal. However, booking train tickets through the IRCTC often leads to a common issue: funds are deducted from your bank account, but no ticket is issued. Also, when you cancel the booked ticket, the refund is issued after 3-5 days and sometimes even more. This situation leaves passengers frustrated, as they wait for days to receive their refunds.


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The delay in processing refunds has been a significant concern for passengers, who frequently turn to social media to voice their dissatisfaction over the slow pace of refunds.


Currently, the refund process can be lengthy. When a booking fails, the IRCTC initiates the refund the following day. However, despite the IRCTC processing the refund, the actual return depends on the banks or payment gateways as they take 3-4 working days to settle the transaction.


To address this, the railway authorities are working on speeding up the refund process. They have instructed their teams to find ways to make the system faster and more efficient, a critical step in today's digital age where automation is key.


Fortunately, improvements are on the horizon. Soon, refunds—whether due to a failed booking or a cancellation—will be processed much more quickly, said many reports.


This update is being developed through the collaborative efforts of IRCTC and the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS), aiming to standardize refund times across all scenarios. Reports suggest that refunds may soon be processed within about an hour. 


This will not only help the IRCTC process the transactions faster but also end the wait for the passengers by faster refund to them.