Different Types Of Waiting List In Indian Railways

[Lesley]

I am just about to book some railway tickets from the Indian railway site for a trip from Mumbai to Pune, but I have just learnt that there is a waiting list status for each ticket booked. All I know is the status abbreviations and I would like someone to tell me what each abbreviation means.
One of my friends who has also made the same booking has got a waiting list status of RLWL, please also explain what this means.

A waiting list status does seem a bit unconfirmed, why is there a waiting list in the first place, even though I am booking 4 weeks prior to my trip?

Thank you members.

 

[Prits]

Have a look at the thread about the different waiting list terms used in IRCTC, which gives you the full form of the waiting list statuses.

 

[Sharath S]

We have a lot of seats allotted for Women, Senior Citizens, Politicians, Celebrities, and VIPs. Most of these people never travel by train but are still given a ticket quota if they ever do. Once the train Departure Time arrives the Chart for the Train is prepared and the seats of the allotted are given to the passengers in the waiting list. Trains are the most comfortable Economic and the most popular mode of Transportation in India and lot of people Pre-plan their travel and reserve their tickets a lot earlier than you did. That is the reason you got into the waiting List. Good Luck. Safe journey.

 

[briannagodess]

Hi and welcome to the forum!

You have already been given the usual abbreviations used in the IRCTC and their meanings. So I'll just jump ahead to your question.

One of my friends who has also made the same booking has got a waiting list status of RLWL, please also explain what this means.

RLWL means "Remote Location Waiting List." This means that the ticket is issued for intermediate stations (between the originating and terminating stations) because usually these are the most important towns or cities on that particular route.

An example of this is if you booked a ticket from Tirupattur to Salem in a train that starts from Chennai and ends in Coimbatore, you would only be approved for a ticket once a passenger from Tirupattur to Salem cancels their ticket. The likelihood of this happening is very low that's why there's less possibility for RLWL tickets to be confirmed.

A waiting list status does seem a bit unconfirmed, why is there a waiting list in the first place, even though I am booking 4 weeks prior to my trip?

There's lots of reasons. One could be that the ticket you're buying is pretty popular, which can happen to tourist destinations. Another is the type of ticket you're booking, of course, the more expensive your ticket is, the less likely that you have to compete with other passengers.

I hope this helps!