NEW DELHI: There will be no refund for cancellation of train tickets up to eight hours before departure, instead of the existing norm of four hours, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said while announcing reforms in the sector on Tuesday.
The new refund rule will take effect between April 1 and 15 this year.
Other refund slabs have also been revised: a cancellation between 24 and eight hours will incur a 50 per cent deduction from the ticket cost. This is currently 12 to four hours.
Similarly, the Railways will deduct 25 per cent of the ticket cost for cancellation between 72 and 24 hours before departure.
A full refund -- except a flat cancellation charge per passenger -- will be given for cancellations made more than 72 hours before the train's departure.
Under the existing policy, cancellations made between 48 and 12 hours incur a 25 per cent deduction of the ticket cost, while a full refund will be given for cancellations made more than 48 hours in advance.
Vaishnaw said the refund rule is being modified to discourage black marketing and last-minute sale of tickets by agents.
The new refund rule, which the railways minister announced for all trains on Tuesday, has already been in force on Vande Bharat Sleeper and Amrit Bharat II trains launched after January this year.
The ministry first announced this through a notification dated January 16, 2026, which amended the Railway Passengers (Cancellation of Ticket and Refund of Fare) Rules, 2015.
Vaishnaw on Tuesday said travel class upgradation will now be allowed up to 30 minutes before departure for passengers who bought counter tickets. Earlier, passengers could upgrade travel class only before the train's first chart.
"The first chart is released at least eight hours before the train's departure, and the second one between 15 and 30 minutes. Passengers can now upgrade their travel class 30 minutes before the train's departure. This facility is available only for counter ticket holders; online ticket purchasers are not allowed class upgradation," said a railway official.
On a change of train boarding point, Vaishnaw said passengers will be given the freedom to change their boarding point 30 minutes before the train's scheduled departure.
Currently, a change of boarding point is allowed only before preparation of the first chart.
Explaining the reform, Vaishnaw said that if a passenger holds a confirmed ticket between station A and Z, and due to a sudden change in plan, he wants to change the boarding point from station A to B, with the new reform, the passenger will be able to digitally update his/her boarding point to B up to 30 minutes before the train leaves the origin station A.
The change of boarding point will have no impact on the ticket cost, an official said.
According to the ministry, the provision to change the boarding point will enable last-minute changes in travel plans, help passengers board from convenient stations, and facilitate better onboard management as well as seat utilisation.
Vaishnaw said that to prevent agents and touts from hoarding tickets, various changes have been made to the Tatkal booking system, including Aadhaar-based OTP, booking restriction on agents for the first 30 minutes, and deployment of an anti-bot solution to filter non-genuine users.
He said 3 crore suspicious user IDs have been deactivated so far.
The railway minister also announced reforms in salt and auto transportation by introducing special containers with non-corrosive features and specialised wagons for auto carriers.
The mechanised loading and unloading of salts will be done now for efficient handling, he said.
Several changes were made in the selection process of construction companies to improve construction quality, he added.