Indian Railways will soon allow passengers to change the travel date of their confirmed train tickets online without any cancellation fee. The new policy, set to be implemented from January, was announced by Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in an interview with NDTV.

Currently, passengers who wish to change their travel date must cancel their existing ticket and book a new one, often incurring cancellation charges depending on the timing of the cancellation. This process has long been criticised as costly and inconvenient.

“This system is unfair and not in the interest of passengers,” Vaishnaw said. He confirmed that instructions have been issued to railway authorities to roll out the new, passenger-friendly date-change facility.

Under the new system, passengers will be able to modify their travel date online without losing money. However, the minister cautioned that the availability of confirmed tickets for the new date cannot be guaranteed and will depend on seat availability. If the fare for the new journey is higher, travellers will be required to pay the difference.

This move is expected to benefit millions of passengers who often need to reschedule their train journeys but are deterred by hefty cancellation fees.

Under the existing rules, cancellation between 48 to 12 hours before departure results in a 25 per cent deduction of the fare. The cancellation charge increases for tickets cancelled between 12 and 4 hours before departure. After the reservation chart is prepared, refunds for cancellations are generally not issued.