Return ticket booking date

A return trip has two journey dates and therefore two booking days, each 60 days before its own date, each found with the IRCTC 60 days calculator. Every journey date and its opening day for the coming months is in the IRCTC booking calendar. For an outbound on 20 December and a return on 2 January, the outbound opens on 21 October and the return on 3 November. Nothing links them in the reservation system; IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, the Indian Railways booking website and app) sells each leg as a separate ticket with its own PNR.

The gap between the two booking days is exactly the length of the trip. A weekend away gives two mornings in the same week. A month-long stay means remembering a second date a month after the first, which is what the reminders on this page are for.

Order matters less than people think. If the return date is the hard one (end of a holiday, Monday morning), book the return first on its day, even though it is later. Having the harder leg confirmed tells you whether the trip is on before you spend on the easier leg.

Both legs follow the train's start date, not your boarding date. An outbound on a train that leaves its origin the evening before you board at a mid-route station opened a day earlier than the simple count. The same applies to the return. The planner has a switch for each leg, so a trip out on a same-day train and back on an overnight one gets the right answer for both.

Example: Delhi to Guwahati on the Rajdhani leaving Delhi on 20 December, returning on a train that leaves Guwahati on 2 January. Both legs start where you board, so both use the plain count. Change the return to a train that starts at Dibrugarh on 1 January and passes Guwahati on 2 January, and the return booking day moves to 2 November.

Because the legs are separate tickets, cancelling one does not touch the other. A confirmed ticket cancelled more than 72 hours before departure loses only the flat charge for its class (₹120 in sleeper, ₹180 in AC 3 tier, ₹240 in First AC), and a waitlisted or RAC (Reservation Against Cancellation: a shared side-lower berth) ticket cancelled up to 30 minutes before departure loses ₹60. The refund calculator gives the figure for any class and time.

If only the return is uncertain, book it anyway on its opening day and cancel later. The flat charge is small next to the Tatkal premium you would pay for booking the same leg a day before travel, and Tatkal tickets are not refunded at all once confirmed.