IRCTC stopped giving compensation for delay in private trains, revealed in RTI
IRCTC has stopped the scheme of giving compensation for delay in private trains from 15 February 2024. This information has come to the fore under an RTI.
Ankush Pandey
Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has stopped the scheme of giving compensation for delay in private trains. This information has come to the fore in response to an RTI. In response to the RTI filed by news agency PTI, IRCTC said that this scheme has been discontinued from 15 February 2024.
However, the corporation refused to give any information, calling the reasons for closing it confidential. Under this compensation scheme of IRCTC, a total of Rs 26 lakh was given to the passengers from October 2019 to February 2024. In particular, in the financial year 2023-24, Rs 15.65 lakh was given to the passengers as compensation.
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This scheme was started in October 2019, when IRCTC started operating two Tejas trains. One of these trains runs between New Delhi to Lucknow and the other from Ahmedabad to Mumbai. According to IRCTC, the purpose of this scheme was to attract passengers to these trains, which was a part of their marketing.
Under the compensation scheme, passengers were given a compensation of Rs 100 if the train was delayed by 60 to 120 minutes and Rs 250 if the train was delayed by 120 to 240 minutes. On the other hand, if the train was cancelled, the full fare was refunded to the passengers and in case of delay, food and drink facilities were also provided.
According to IRCTC records, Rs 1.78 lakh was given as compensation in 2019-20, zero in 2020-21, Rs 96,000 in 2021-22, Rs 7.74 lakh in 2022-23 and Rs 15.65 lakh in 2023-24.
Now this scheme has been completely discontinued. This move of IRCTC has become a topic of discussion among passengers.
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