What is PNR status and what does it tell me?

What is PNR status and what does it tell me?

pnr status details : the actual pnr status of the ticket

PNR status is the status of your booking. It tells you whether your ticket is confirmed, wait listed, reserved, etc.

When do I need to know my PNR status?

When traveling by train in India, you may find that your train ticket is on a waitlist. This is quite common and to find out whether your ticket is confirmed you need to check your current PNR status . . To see the current status of your train ticket on the IRCTC booking system waitlist, just use the form at the top of this page.

What does “PNR number” mean?

pnr number on Indian Railways ticket

PNR stands for “passenger name record” and it tells you your current status on the WL (waitlist) or RAC (reservation against cancellation queue). If you buy a WL ticket or an RAC ticket, you will be assigned a unique 10-digit PNR number .

3 ways of checking of Indian Railways pnr status

There are three ways to check your PNR status:

1. Online via your PC
2. Via SMS service
3. Via a smartphone app

Online via your PC

The easiest way to check your PNR status is to submit a request on official Indian Railways website.

Via SMS service:

Using SMS service Check your PNR status by sending an SMS in one of the following formats:

• your 10-digit PNR number to 139
• your 10-digit PNR number to 5676747

Note: the correct format of the sms text is ‘9876543210’ (sample number – use your unique PNR number). Note that you just need to type your 10-digit PNR number.

Via a smartphone app

Using smartphone apps to check PNR status Internet-connected smartphones and tablets are commonly used so we have listed the following helpful apps for checking your PNR status:

Android apps:

One of the best is “PNR status app“, which you can download from the Google Play store.

iPhone app

There is no dedicated iPhone app to date (10/2014). We will let you know once one is available!

PNR status and railway reservations explained step by step …

WL and RAC

When all available seats on a train are sold, the railway ( Indian Railway or IRCTC ) releases RACs for railway reservations. Once all of those are sold, WL tickets are released. On almost every train, tickets are canceled for a variety of reasons. These cancellations can get you on the train if you bought an RAC or WL ticket. When the reservation chart of a particular train is ready (usually meaning that the train is due to depart in a few hours) and there are still some available tickets in different quotas, those will be given to RAC/WL ticket holders.

passenger details on Indian Railways ticket

seat class of the Indian Railways ticket

Here is an example of a railway reservation situation. Tickets are sold in the following order:

1. Available 02
2. Available 01
3. RAC 01
4. RAC 02
5. RAC 03
6. RAC 04
7. WL 01
8. WL 02