How to return an electronic ticket to Russian Railways

I used to post a detailed guide how to buy a Russian Railways ticket online and got various questions related to this topic. One of the most popular is how to return an electronic ticket to Russian Railways and what needs to be done for this. And in fact, everything is simple and logical here, and I will now tell you how it happens..

The article was changed and supplemented, since Russian Railways did return tickets on the website, which was not the case before. But still, it is not always possible to return tickets purchased through the site, read below.

The content of the article

What is Russian Railways e-ticket and electronic registration

Our Russian Railways is not yet quite close to modern trends, and we can already say thank you that we have the opportunity to buy a ticket via the Internet. Not so long ago, and this was not, anyway, it was necessary to go to the cashier. And now, even for some popular trains, electronic registration has appeared, and you do not need to receive a paper ticket before boarding the train, it is enough to show your passport to the conductor. Just do not confuse electronic registration and electronic ticket, these are completely different terms for Russian Railways..

E-ticket

Let me remind you that the electronic ticket of the Russian Railways only gives the right to receive a paper ticket at the self-service terminal or at the box office. That is, it is convenient for staking out a seat on the train in advance, but it is not a travel document in itself. As with air travel, you show your passport (and sometimes an e-ticket) at the check-in counter and you will be given a boarding pass. In our case, you are given a real railway ticket at the railway ticket office or in the self-service terminal, which is presented on the train. The only difference is that you need to know the code of your e-ticket.

Electronic registration

And electronic registration means you go straight from home to the train, you don't need to get any additional tickets, just show your passport to the conductor and that's it. Although it is still desirable to show a printout from the site too.

How to return an electronic ticket to Russian Railways

How to return a Russian Railways ticket

In principle, if you followed the course of my thoughts in the previous paragraphs, then you realized that you can have two options for tickets in your hands: real paper and electronic. Accordingly, to return a real ticket, you need to go to the station to the ticket office, and the electronic one can be returned through the website.

How to return a paper ticket

If you bought a ticket at the box office at the station, then at the box office there will be a refund, everything is clear here, it has always been this way. Let's pay attention to another point. If your ticket was originally electronic, but you have already managed to get a boarding pass on Russian Railways form at the ticket office or self-service terminal, then consider that it has already become real and it will also have to be returned only through the ticket office. The ticket office can be any in the territory of the Russian Federation, and for the return of tickets to Europe - an international ticket office in the territory of the Russian Federation.

The only difference is that you paid for an electronic ticket using a bank card, and it is on it that the refund will be made, that is, you will not be given money at the box office. They will return within 7-30 days to the card.

From this we can conclude that you should not receive a ticket on a paper form ahead of time. It is better to arrive a couple of hours before the departure of the train and then get it already.

How to return an e-ticket through the website

Once again, you can return through the website only an electronic ticket for which a paper boarding pass has not yet been received at the box office or self-service terminal. Accordingly, you will need to go to the Russian Railways website in your personal account and complete the return procedure. Are looking for «My orders», find your ticket in the list, in the menu «more details» looking for ticket status and button «return».

You will be charged a fee of 162 rubles for the return service. In addition, the amount refunded will depend on the time of the cancellation..

  • 8 hours before the train departure, you will be refunded the full amount.
  • 2-8 hours before the departure of the train, you will receive the ticket price and 50% of the cost of the reserved seat.
  • For 2 hours only the cost of the ticket.

Here are the things ... On the one hand, the return procedure is not entirely logical (electronic can be, paper is not possible), on the other hand, there are very loyal terms for returning 100% of the ticket price, if we draw an analogy with air tickets. No airline would have refunded the entire amount 8 hours before departure, God forbid, a couple of months, and that is not a fact, everything would depend on the fare of the ticket, whether it is refundable or not..

There are other nuances associated with the return of railway tickets, they can be found on the official website of Russian Railways.

Where to buy a train ticket

In order not to suffer with a buggy and inconvenient official website, you can use the booking form from the well-known Tutu service. We ourselves often use their services, sane people work there, which is good news. By the way, there you can buy two lower seats at once, just mark them on the carriage diagram and that's it..

P.S. When buying a ticket through Tutu, the task of refunding a ticket is somewhat simplified, you just call them and make a refund, no ticket offices and queues.

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