The ticket booking facilities in Indian Railways have become really easy and the technologies used here are world-class. The servers and the databases are of high standard and capable of withstanding huge traffic load within a very short span of time. The tickets generated from railway booking counters or even online booking generates a PNR number. It is a system generated unique code of 10 digits.
The PNR number, which is actually an abbreviation of Passenger Name Record, is a result of combinations of the 10 decimal numbers i.e. from 0 to 9. The PNR number is generated in all cases of ticket booking, whether it’s from Railway Booking Counters or online internet booking or through travel agencies. Nowadays, one can even book tickets by availing the facilities of internet booking through mobile phones. In this era of android systems, there are applications (apps) which give us the opportunity to book tickets instantly and in a much easier way.
The PNR number is always generated in cases of;
- Confirm Booking
- RAC (Reservation against Cancellation)
- WL (Waiting List)
In countries like India, which competes to have the world record of the largest population and where the average daily income of an individual is not much, train journey seems to be the cheapest or even affordable means of travel. Even people, who belong to a higher class in the society, prefer to travel in a luxurious train like the Rajdhani or Duranto or even Shatabdi etc. So in order to get a confirm ticket in the trains one plans to travel, one needs to book tickets well in advance. The advance booking can be done up to 90 days before the day of travel.
- Confirm Booking –
In the case of confirm booking, one need to book tickets well in advance, at least 90 days before the day of journey. A PNR number comprising of 10 digits out of the 10 decimal numbers is generated in every transaction taking place in the server. It is always unique for every passenger.
- RAC –
RAC, abbreviation of Reservation against Cancellation is the status of a passenger when he or she is not confirmed about his/her seat on the train. The person through the RAC seat is requested to wait for confirmation until someone else is cancelling his/her booking. In the case of RAC also, a PNR number is generated.
- WL –
This is the status of a passenger when he/she is not even in the RAC category of booking. This person according to the rules is not eligible even to board the train. A person has to wait for all the RACs to fill up. If any vacancy remains, then a Waiting list passenger gets chance.
Thus, it becomes very important to know the status of ticket before boarding the train so just check PNR status on mobile phones before setting off on your journey.