Rail refunds come to people’s aid

Nine Mumbai railway stations are among the 30 across India that saw the highest number of refunds that were offered to commuters after they cancelled tickets for long-distance trains in order to break their Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, which have been demonetised.

The stations are Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Kalyan, Andheri, Ghatkopar, Dombivali, Andheri, Mumbai Central, Thane and Churchgate.

Officials said that the high number of cancellations was seen as people are booking tickets at the counters for trains that have long waiting lists and are then cancelling them after a few hours. While booking tickets, customers have been forking over Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, but the amount refunded is mostly in smaller denominations.

Chennai’s Egmore station, which saw the highest number of refunds, has returned a staggering Rs 3,40,000 to travellers. while CST comes second with a little over Rs 2 lakh refunded to commuters.

An official on the condition of anonymity said, “It is very important to note that the Railways has been used by commuters to break their Rs 500 and Rs 1, 000 notes only and all these tickets are for going nowhere but just a means to get change after they are cancelled.”

Among the nine Mumbai stations, Kalyan station offered the second highest number of refunds — Rs 1,53,000. Among the stations that fall on the Western Railway (WR), Andheri station refunded Rs 1,52,000 to commuters, while Churchgate counters returned Rs 1,40,000 followed by Mumbai Central with Rs 1,16, 000. The sixth station was Thane on the Central Railway with Rs 1,12,000, after Ghatkopar with Rs 99,000 and finally Dombivali with Rs 68,000.

WR chief public relations officer Ravindra Bhakar said, “Under the Railway Board’s instructions we have stopped taking any bookings for air-conditioned class for November 10, 11 and 12.We had earlier put a cap on tickets being booked up to Rs 10,000 but then we asked the Railway Board to issue fresh instructions to us since the people were cancelling their tickets a few hours after booking them.”