Do you need a reservation?
Of Course, you do! For all long-distance train journeys in India, you must make berth or seat reservations; you cannot simply show up and board. Reservations are now entirely automated. According to a survey, people admit that computerization saved nearly 50% of their travel costs by making the system more transparent and easily manageable.
When do reservations open?
Around 120 days before departure. Most Indian long-distance trains accept reservations up to 120 days in advance. Earlier, it was a period of 60 days; however, in 2008, this phase was temporarily extended to 90 days, then 120 days in 2012, before being decreased to 60 days in 2013 to make ticket “scalping” by agencies more difficult. Finally it got restored to 120 days on April 1, 2015. Some short-distance intercity trains, such as Delhi-Kalka and Kalka-Simla, may only be available for booking 30 days or even 15 days ahead of time.
Do trains get fully booked?
Yes, trains can get completely booked they do, since people start booking frequently weeks or even months ahead of time, so make your bookings as soon as possible. In the coming weeks, TV displays in reservation offices in key cities will display berth availability on the principal trains departing from that city. Best part is that, if you can visit Trainman app for train ticket booking and select availability at your desired main station and date of journey you can view the next date on which berths are available berths and trains on that particular day which will drop you to your destination.
For instance, consider today is 29 Feb, and you see that the earliest date for purchasing an AC2 Shiv Ganga Express ticket to New Delhi is 6 April. While, if you travel in AC3, I could purchase tickets on the 28th of March. However, the positive side of this is that you can save some days there.
There is a specific Foreign Tourist Quota on several popular trains, reserving seats just for them. This implies that foreigners may find a certain number of seats available on trains that are sold out for Indian passengers.
The Foreign Tourist Quota
Many key trains have a modest Foreign Tourist (FT) quota of seats or berths allocated only to foreign tourists, in addition to the standard General (GN) allotment of seats or berths available to anybody. This is quite beneficial: Within a day or two of departure, a train that is technically fully filled may still have a few FT berths remaining, allowing foreign travelers to go around on short notice. However, it is not without flaws. Out of 9000 available trains this quota is applicable to hardly 200 trains and the quota may be as few as just two spots, rarely more than twelve, in one or two specific classes.
Even for leveraging this special quota, you need to wait a day or two for train ticket booking for getting a berth in your preferred class to your desired destination. Tickets purchased under this Foreign tourist quota need to be paid for in US dollars, pounds sterling, or rupees and must be accompanied with an exchange document as a proof that they were bought from a bank or bureau de change.
Usually, rupees backed by an ATM receipt and a foreign bank card suffice. When booking train ticket online from the Foreign Tourist Quota, but please make sure to not waste these valuable and restricted FT seats if General Quota seats are still available. The General Quota is open to anyone. The only reason to use FT locations is if all other options have sold out. The senior quota is exclusively available to Indian senior citizens.
Reservation Against Cancellation (RAC) & Waitlisted (WL) places…
A specified number of tickets in each class are sold as “Reservation Against Cancellation” after a train is fully booked with confirmed reservations (CNF) (RAC). Additional passengers are ‘Waitlisted’ once all of the RAC seats have been sold (WL).
RAC ticket can be used to board and ride on the train. Whatever happens, you may rest easy knowing that you’ve reserved a train seat. If you’re offered a RAC ticket, even if you don’t have a specific seat or berth number, take it. Usually, one of the confirmed passengers will cancel before the train leaves, and you’ll be promoted from RAC to CNF with a confirmed seat or berth on the train.
On the day of travel, your name will be assigned to a specific seat or berth number on the reservation list shown on the boarding station notice board, or you can check your status online. A passenger in line will be upgraded from WL to RAC in your place. Even if no one cancels, you can board the train with a RAC ticket and be assigned a seat (but not a berth) in a carriage of the applicable class. For example, two RAC passengers may be compelled to share a two-seat section that would normally be transformed into a single berth.
Often at least one of the confirmed passengers will miss the train; therefore, the onboard crew will assign the spare berth to the first RAC passenger, and the second RAC traveler may find himself with a berth to himself, alleviating the issues of two RAC passengers! In the worst-case situation, if there are no no-shows, the RAC passengers will have to stay awake all night or take turns sleeping in the berth.
You cannot travel on a WL ticket unless you are upgraded to RAC or CNF before departure. A low-numbered WL ticket, on the other hand, has a good possibility of occurring. One passenger, for example, claims that on multiple travels, they had WL places ranging from WL1 to WL10, but that they always got promoted to CNF with a definite seat on the train, generally in the 24 hours before departure because that’s when all the movement happens. Simply keep checking your status on the internet. Even if you’re simply promoted to RAC, you can now travel, as mentioned in the previous paragraph.
Should I get a WL ticket now?
Is it likely that a certain WL ticket will be confirmed? Based on previous data, some websites now claim to be able to forecast the likelihood that a certain WL ticket will be confirmed and allow you to board the train. Enter your PNR into http://trainman.in, to check the train’s current availability is, and how likely it is that WL tickets will be confirmed by departure if you booked them.
How to find out what your current status is: By entering the PNR number on your ticket at www.indianrail.gov.in/pnr Enq.html, you may validate the current status of your booking as WL, RAC, or CNF, but keep in mind that things can change even on the day of departure. In reality, the majority of movement occurs in the 24 hours leading up to departure. When the reservation chart is produced on departure day, unsold tickets and other special quotas may be released, with WL passengers promoted to RAC and RAC passengers promoted to CNF.
Stay updated with your status about train ticket booking with the Trainman App.
Also read: Robo-Taxi Market Development, and trends Forecast 2022-2028
