I am glad I joined this forum, as I have a query about railway ticket booking. My parents have booked some train tickets from Agra to Jaipur, and their tickets are in waiting list. I would like to know when do we get the confirmation of waiting list railway ticket? Where do we find out the confirmation ticket information from?
Hello, @Tipu, welcome to the forum! (Images from India Rail Info, India Rail Info, Bahn Frend, India Rail Info and India Rail Info) Overview Once you have booked your ticket for a train from the Indian Railways, the waiting game begins. This is especially true for those who have booked for a waiting list ticket, instead of a confirmed ticket or a RAC one. Waiting for your ticket to get into the confirmed status or at least RAC status can be very nerve-wracking. 'Will it get confirmed or not? What are my chances of getting a confirmed ticket?' These are the usual questions that passengers with waiting list tickets have. Fortunately, with the onset of technology, there are various ways of predicting for the chances of your waiting list ticket to be confirmed. While it's not possible to predict exactly when your ticket would be confirmed, you can save precious time and money by knowing if there is a high chance of your waiting list ticket to be confirmed. Personal - Understanding Your Chances of Confirmation You can utilise the help of various websites to understand whether your waiting list ticket can get confirmed. But there are also some factors that can aid you in knowing your own chances of getting a confirmed ticket. So let's take your route, Agra to Jaipur, as an example in this case. 1. The Quota Type - You might have heard of various quota codes in the Indian Railways like the GN, RL or PQ. You can refer to this guide for a complete overview of such quota types. In a nutshell, a particular route in the Indian Railways has various quotas. Under that route, several trains fulfil a specific quota type. The General Quota (GN) has the highest allocation of berths and seats out of all the quota types. This is because this type of quota covers the entire route, from the originating station until the terminating station of the train. The Remote Location Quota (RL) is a good option as well, as it covers an important intermediate station in the route. The allocation of seats might not be as high as the GN but the chances of getting confirmed for this quota are still good. Once you pick other quota types like the Pooled Quota (PQ), Roadside Station Quota (RS) and Request Quota (RQ), the chances of getting confirmed for your waiting list ticket are lesser. Trains from Agra to Jaipur and Their Various Quotas These are all of the trains running from Agra to Jaipur. As you can see, there are three main types of quotas for this route, namely: General Waiting List (GNWL), Remote Location Waiting List (RLWL) and Pooled Quota Waiting List (PQWL). To compare the number of available seats for each quota, we have highlighted the three trains above. The blue highlighted train is the GNWL Quota, which is the Allahabad Jaipur SF Express Train No. 12403. The red highlighted train is the RLWL Quota, which is the Kamakhya Jaipur Kavi Guru Express Train No. 19710. The green highlighted train is the PQWL Quota, which is the Gorakhpur Ahmedabad Express Train No. 19410. Side by Side Comparison of Quota Types Now, take a look at the number of available seats for each of the trains mentioned above. The blue highlighted one is the Allahabad Jaipur SF Express Train No. 12403 which is the GNWL Quota type. As you can see, it has the highest number of seats, as compared to the other two trains. Its Sleeper (SL) Class has around 298 available seats, its Third AC (3A) Class has 73 seats, its Second AC (2A) Class has 40 seats and its First AC (1A) Class has 6 seats. If you compare just its number of SL seats with the other two trains, the gap is quite huge as the RLWL Quota train has just 13 available seats for this class and the PQWL Quota train has just 72 available seats for this class. What does this mean? Well, if you book a ticket for the GNWL Quota train, even if it's a waiting list one, your chances of getting confirmed are higher. Why? Because the higher number of seats means that there are higher possibilities of passengers cancelling their journey. If you book a waiting list ticket for the other quota types, even if your waiting list number is not that high, your chances of getting confirmed are lower because the allocation of seats for this quota is also lower. 2. The Seat Class - Another good predictor of whether you have a higher chance of getting confirmed is the seat class. Just refer to the screenshot above, of the side by side comparison of the quota types. From that screenshot, you can easily decipher which class of seat has the highest allocation in a train. Usually, the Sleeper (SL) Class has the highest number of seat allocation, followed by Third AC (3A) Class, Second AC (2A) Class and then First AC (1A) Class. Seat Allocation in Allahabad Jaipur SF Express Train No. 12403 The screenshot above showcases the number of seats for the different classes of the Allahabad Jaipur SF Express Train No. 12403. The Sleeper (SL) Class has the highest number of seats at around 298 while the First AC (1A) Class has the lowest number of seats at just 6. If you look at the other trains, you would find the same pattern, whereby the Sleeper (SL) Class has the highest allocation of seats. Again, what does this mean? If you have booked for a ticket for the SL Class, this means that your chances of getting a confirmed ticket are higher as the possibilities of passengers cancelling are also higher. However, if you have booked for 2A Class or 1A Class, there are lesser number of seats allotted so possibilities of other passengers cancelling are also lesser. 3. The Current Trend - You would also need to take into account the current trend of your waiting list ticket. For example, you have booked for the 3A Class in the Allahabad Jaipur SF Express Train No. 12403 that is bound from Agra to Jaipur. A certain booking website ha shown you the following trend for the preferred date of booking, which is May 30, 2017. Waiting List Status for Allahabad Jaipur SF Express Train No. 12403 From the screenshot above, you can see that the current status for the train for the said date is GNWL21/WL7. To simplify this status, you have the GNWL21, which is the serial waiting list number, and WL7 which is the running waiting list number. The serial waiting list number won't change and it can actually help you in identifying the current trend in the waiting list. You see, GNWL21 or the serial waiting number depicts the starting of the waiting list. This means that the waiting list begun with 21 persons but then 14 persons have already cancelled, which is why the running waiting list number is at WL7 already. Once you book for a ticket, you would be placed under WL8, which means you started in the 8th position. What does this mean? From the example above, your chances of getting confirmed are higher since there were many cancellations already since the waiting list begun. But for example, you came across a waiting list with this status: RLWL73/WL70, what does this mean? This means that only 3 persons have cancelled their tickets since the waiting list started. Your chances of getting confirmed for this waiting list are lower. 4. Other Factors - If you have booked for a ticket during rush holiday season, especially festivals or long weekends, your chances of getting confirmed are also lower. Why? Because it is less likely that passengers are to cancel their tickets, as most want to go home and spend some time with their loved ones. Most evening trains are also fully booked since passengers want to travel by night to save some time. Thus, if you have booked for a night ticket, you also have lesser chances of getting confirmed if you're on the waiting list. And finally, though it doesn't apply to you, those who have booked for long-distance trains are also less likely to cancel their train tickets. If you have booked a ticket under any of these conditions, then you have to accept the fact that your waiting list ticket have lesser chances of confirmation. Outsource - Aid of Other Websites Perhaps you want to get the help of other websites in predicting your chances of being confirmed for your waiting list ticket. Well, that's very much possible, as many websites today have garnered enough logistics and softwares to predict such chances. Some websites rely on the human algorithms, while other rely on the technology algorithms. Either way, they can help you in knowing whether your waiting list ticket would be confirmed. 1. The Traditional Way via India Rail Info - This is probably the oldest and most traditional way of predicting the confirmation possibility of a waiting list ticket. The India Rail Info is a website dedicated to all things related to the Indian Railways. But aside from train bookings, the website has thousands of memberships of experts on the Indian Railways. These members can then guide you by predicting whether your ticket would be confirmed, based on past ticket trends that the members have witnessed. Simply go to this link and input your PNR, then click on the Post PNR button. Don't worry, your PNR won't be showcased to non-members, only members can see the entire PNR. Then, wait about 5 to 10 minutes and various members would predict whether your ticket would be confirmed or not. You can see the reliability of that member by the percentage of correct predictions they have made before, located just after their name. India Rail Info PNR Prediction 2. The Modern Way via PNR Prediction Websites - With the advent of technology, more and more websites can now predict the confirmation chances of your ticket with just your PNR. Even prior to booking your ticket, you can view the chances of it getting confirmed via confirmation prediction websites. One of which is website of Trainman. You just need to click on the link given, click on the PNR Status link which would take you to another page. In that page, enter your PNR and once done, click on the PNR Status button. It would then showcase the possibility of your ticket getting confirmed. Trainman Predictions on Agra to Jaipur Trains From the screenshot above, you can also see that Trainman can predict the confirmation possibilities of various waiting lists even without the PNR. So prior to booking for a ticket for a certain train, you can input your route in this website and then see whether it's worth it to book a waiting list ticket from then. For example, for the Agra Fort Ajmer Intercity SF Express Train No. 12195, you can see that its Chair Car Class is on a waiting list already. The status is at GNWL8/WL6 which Trainman predicts a 94% chance of confirmation. Then there's the Marudhar Express Train No. 14863 which has waiting lists for both its 3A and SL seats. As you can see, the chances of being confirmed are lower at 61% and 56% respectively. There are other websites too that provide such free services, like the website of Rail Yatri and the website of Confirmtkt. Vital - Knowing PNR Status The last section of this guide would highlight your options for knowing your PNR Status. The PNR, meaning Passenger Name Record, is a 10-digit unique number that each passenger with a booked ticket has. You need to know your PNR so that you can check on your ticket's status, especially if you're on the waiting list or RAC list. You can find your PNR Number at the left corner of your train ticket, as shown in the picture below. Indian Railways Ticket and PNR Number (Image from IRCTC) Now that you know where to find your PNR Number, we can now move on to the ways of how you can know whether your status is confirmed or not. There are various ways of doing so, you can choose which one is the most convenient and suitable for you. 1. The Traditional Ways (Text and Call) - If you don't have internet with you, you can still check for your PNR Status. There are two approaches to this, the first is via SMS and the second is via calling. As long as you have your phone and it has some load, you can utilise any of these options. ⤳ Via SMS or Texting On the message form of your phone, type in this required format: PNR <Your 10-Digit PNR Number> and then send it to 139. Using the image above, you would then have to type: PNR <4338761670> before pressing send to 139. After which, a text message would be sent to your mobile number informing you about the status of your PNR. ⤳ Via Calling Dial 139 in your mobile phone and listen to the Interactive Voice Response. The prompt would let you choose your preferred language prior to continuing. After selecting your preferred language, listen to the Interactive Voice Response again. It would prompt you to Press the number 1 for PNR Inquiry. Input the 10-digit PNR Number that you have and select 1 to confirm it. Listen to the Interactive Voice Response as it would then tell you whether your ticket is still waitlisted or has been confirmed. 2. The Online Way (Indian Railways Website) - If you have your laptop, tablet or gadget with you and you can connect to WiFi, then you can check for your PNR Status online. If you want to make sure that you're checking via the official website of the Indian Railways, then you have to follow the steps below. The IRCTC Website ⤳ From the IRCTC Website First, go to this link that would take you to the official IRCTC website. From there, you can login to your account, inputting your username, password and then the required captcha. Once done, click on the Login button. On your account, click on the Print e-Ticket tab and then select the latest ticket you have booked, which is from Agra to Jaipur. Click on the Get PNR Status button and it will showcase the status of your waitlisted ticket. ⤳ From the Indian Railways Passenger Reservation Enquiry Website Knowing your PNR Number, you can reach the Indian Railways Passenger Reservation Enquiry website instead. This version is suitable for those who have booked their tickets via counter as well. Upon reaching the website, enter your PNR Number and click on the Get Status button. It will then showcase the status of your waitlisted ticket. There are also other websites that can help you in checking your PNR Status online. You can check out this link or this link. From such sites, you can also be updated about your PNR Status although they're not affiliated with Indian Railways formally. Conclusion There is really no surefire way of knowing whether your waitlisted train ticket would be confirmed or not. Some of the ways highlighted above, from the Personal Section to the Outsource Section, are just mere guides. Knowing the various factors that can affect your ticket's chances of being confirmed can put you on a higher pedestal. On the other hand, using websites that can confirm your ticket's chances of getting confirmed are still not foolproof ways as these methods rely on past algorithms only. Good luck and I hope this helps you!
