IRCTC PNR statuses and their meanings               

                  Find your PNR status at       http://www.indianrail.gov.in/pnr_Enq.html

A quick explanation of RAC and wait lists

• WL = Waitlist
• RAC = Reservation against cancellation

An RAC ticket ensures certainty of travel on the train (a WL ticket doesn't) and in your chosen class, but there’s a chance you could end up with just a seat. (very unlikely if you book early)

A berth is split into 2 seats for 2 RAC ticket holders, if there are any last minute cancellations, or any unsold quota allocations, or if any confirmed ticket holders are given a free upgrade, an RAC ticket holder is given the empty berth, the other RAC ticket holder can then convert the 2 seats into a berth.

RAC tickets are only issued for 2-tier air conditioned (4 seats per carriage), 3-tier air conditioned (6 seats per carriage), non air conditioned First Class (4 seats per carriage), and non air conditioned Sleeper Class (up to 12 seats per carriage).

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Every Ticket has 2 numbers

All RAC/WL tickets have 2 ’numbers’, the first is the position you join the wait list, the 2nd is your current wait list position.

So lets imagine you go to buy a ticket online (or at a reservation office), you find the perfect train, select your chosen class, enter your date of journey, then notice that the ticket offered is WL 10/WL 4, you buy the ticket, so we’ll use this as an example. (with 4 RAC places)

WL 10/WL 4 means that you join the wait list at position 10, but due to cancellations (before you bought the ticket) you have already moved to wait list position 4, the first number will not change, if there were another 3 cancellations, your new waitlist position will be WL 10/WL 1, another 3 cancellations would take you to WL 10/RAC 2, a further 2 cancellations would take you to WL 10/CNF (confirmed reservation, though you wouldn’t find out your carriage and berth number till a couple of hours before the train departs)

Think of standing in a queue, as you go to join the queue you are given a number indicating the position you join the queue (e.g. WL 10), this number will remain the same as that IS the position you joined the queue, all those in front of you have either confirmed, RAC or better wait list positions than you, if any of the people in front of you decide to leave the queue, you move forward, and also closer to a confirmed seat/berth, some in front of you may have already left the queue before you joined, so if 6 people had already left the queue, you’d be joining the queue in position WL 10, but you’d already be at position WL 4.

RAC is Reservation Against Cancellation. All RAC passengers are accommodated in the lower side berth with sitting arrangement (no sleeping). RAC passengers are given priority if there is any cancellation by confirmed ticket passenger. The above ticket would move through the wait list as follows: -

WL 10/WL 4

WL 10/WL 3

WL 10/WL 2

WL 10/WL 1

WL 10/RAC 4

WL 10/RAC 3

WL 10/RAC 2

WL 10/RAC 1

WL 10/CNF

So having an RAC 100 is actually better than a WL 1.

A Pooled Quota Waiting List ('PQWL') is shared by several small stations in a particular region. E.g., Tiruppur, Salem, etc., share in the quota and wait list for some trains originating from Trivandrum or Mangalore. As another example, the 2723 Andhra Pradesh Exp. has three quotas, for Secunderabad - New Delhi, Secunderabad - nagpur, and Secunderabad - Bhopal. There is also a pooled quota for passengers travelling from Secunderabad to stations beyond Bhopal but short of Jhansi. If this quota is exhausted, a passenger is placed in the pooled quota waiting list. Pooled Quotas normally operate only from the originating station of a route, and there is only one Pooled Quota for the entire run. The Pooled Quota is intended to be utilized by passengers travelling from the originating station to a station short of the terminating station, or from an intermediate station to the terminating station, or between two intermediate stations. Such remote location quotas are also provided when there is a very strong demand for the train in question, because of which, without such additional quotas, all seats or berths might be fully consumed by passengers from the originating station leaving nothing available for those wishing to travel from intermediate points. Vacant Pooled Quota berths are automatically tapped by the PRS for booking end-to-end passengers. Passengers in the Pooled Quota Waiting List are cleared against the vacancies in the earmarked Pooled Quota only, or against General Quota vacancies available at the time of charting.