What are the RAC GNWL PQWL RLWL and TQWL in Indian Railways?

About 14,300 trains are being operated by the Indian Railways. Almost two million passengers travel every day by train in India and it shoots up to double or triple times higher during mega festivals and vacation season. In this scenario, booking ticket in advance for journey is a must. Indian Railways allow the passengers to book their tickets 120 days prior to journey date which means the Advance Reservation Period (ARP) for any train opens before 120 days from the scheduled date of Journey. In such condition, booking tickets in waiting list has become a common phenomenon. After booking, the confirmation probability of the tickets varies depending on many factors and quota seat allotment is one of them. Just making a reservation for train travel doesn’t ensure passengers a confirmed ticket for journey via train, but it is the confirmed ticket status which allows the passenger to journey. It is advisable for the passengers to check PNR status online on regular basis to get details on ticket confirmation.

What is PNR Status?
When we reserve a ticket for a train journey, it is issued against a unique set of 10 digit numbers called PNR. PNR stands for “Passenger Name Record” which contains information of the passenger traveling in a particular train. PNR is generated by the railway reservation department. This specific 10 digit number should be checked online to know details about the status of the ticket.

Recommended Read:Amazing Facts about PNR Number

Types of Status in the Indian Railways:

• WL (Waitlist status): WL stands for Waiting List. This showcases that ticket status is in waitlist. The WL ticket gets confirmed only when the passengers who have booked their tickets beforehand, cancel their ticket. WL is generally followed by some numbers which is the waitlist series of your ticket. The number mentioned after the WL shows the number of passengers who have booked their tickets in waiting list. It looks like WL 10/WL 9, this means 10 passengers have booked ticket in the same train and the chances of confirmation depends on cancellation of 10 tickets.

• RAC (Reservation against Cancellation): RAC status of the ticket allows passenger to board the train with a shared seat. Means, all the side lower berths are allotted for RAC status. There is high probability of getting a fully confirmed berth in RAC mode of ticket status. At the same time, in rare circumstances, the RAC tickets are also subject to cancellation.

• GNWL/AVAILABLE (Confirmed tickets status):If you have booked your tickets in waiting and while checking the PNR status of your ticket you see “GNWL/AVAILABLE” status, it means your seat is confirmed. The passengers who have reserved their tickets before you had canceled his/her tickets to get your ticket confirmed. While checking seat availability in train, you can also spot “GNWL/AVAILABLE” status which showcases the availability of the berth in that particular train.

• GNWL (General Waiting List): GNWL is the most common type of waitlist status generated to those passengers who book their train ticket from the origin/ source station of the train. Though there’re many factors determining waitlist ticket confirmation, but GNWL status has the highest probability of getting confirmed. You can check your PNR status regularly to know the exact status. It appears as WL15/WL10 which means the ticket at the time of booking had the waitlist status as WL15 and after booking the status has shifted to WL10.

• RLWL (Remote location waiting list): RLWL status of the ticket is issued when passengers reserve their ticket in between the source and destination station at any important halt en route of that particular train. Those tickets which are issued with RLWL status gets confirm only when any booking made from source to destination gets canceled or when the passengers who have boarded the train from the origin station and get down at that particular railway station near termination or nearby the termination station. The chances of getting confirmed berth with RLWL status is very low.

• PQWL (Pooled Quota waiting List): PQWL is a rare type of waiting list ticket status. This status is allotted to those people who travel from originating station to an intermittent station or one intermittent station to another intermittent railway station or from origination station to near the termination station.

• TQWL (Tatkal Quota Waiting List):When the berths available for Tatqal quota are exhausted or issued during the Tatkal ticket booking slot, then TQWL is issued to the passengers if required. However, the probability of getting confirmation of TQWL is very low. After the allocation and issuance of Tatkal tickets, the final chart preparation process begins. During the final chart preparation process, GNWL status tickets are given first preference which leads to the very confirmation probability of TQWL tickets to be confirmed. However, passengers can also try booking their tickets in Premium Tatkal Quota. Tickets under this quota are available online only.

Important Note:

1. When tickets reserved online doesn’t get confirmed after train charting, then the waitlisted tickets are canceled automatically. The refund amount is transferred in the bank account after cancellation.
2. When the PRS reserved ticket is not confirmed even after the final chart preparation, the ticket is not canceled. The passenger is not allotted a berth and allowed to travel by General class.
3. You can also check train running status online to know about current position of the train. You can get the updates on your train position, if tickets are not booked from the source station.