NEW DELHI, March 24 -- The Indian Railways on Tuesday announced a major overhaul of its ticket cancellation and boarding norms, insisting that the changes were an effort to tighten the screws on black marketing and improve passenger convenience.

Under the new rules, the railways have introduced a tiered refund system that will require passengers to pay a minimum cancellation charge for confirmed tickets cancelled more than 72 hours before a train's scheduled departure.

If a ticket is cancelled between 72 hours and 24 hours before departure, the railways will deduct 25% of the fare, subject to the minimum fee. The deduction rises to 50% of the fare for cancellations of confirmed tickets between 24 hours and 8 hours before departure.

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