Rail travel in India non-confirmed accommodation · Non-confirmed accommodation in Rail travel in India
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Non-confirmed accommodation in Rail travel in India
Non-confirmed accommodation in Rail travel in India
If you do not get a Confirmed (CNF) ticket, you may get one that is Waitlisted (WL) or in the Reservation Against Cancellation (RAC) status. If you've booked your ticket in advance, it will probably move from WL to RAC status or even to CNF status as time goes by (because of cancellations), so it is a good idea to check it periodically and keep your plans dynamic. Use the 10-digit Passenger Name Record (PNR) number, printed on the top right-hand corner of your ticket, to check the status of your ticket at any point of time, either on the website or by phone (dial 139, from any landline telephone in India). The number will read like WL32/WL14 or similiar, with the structure being WL(original position)/WL(current position).
You cannot get on to a reserved compartment if your ticket is waitlisted (you can only enter a General Compartment if available). Waitlisted caught entering the train are treated as non-ticket holders and fined. But if you have an RAC ticket, you are allotted 'sitting' berths - i.e. in a Sleeper Coach, you and a fellow RAC ticket-holder share a berth so that both of you can travel sitting instead of sleeping. The Ticket Examiner then allots you a CNF sleeping berth as and when one is available due to last minute cancellations, no-shows etc. Depending on the train, the route and the season you are travelling in, the RAC ticket may get upgraded to CNF either as soon as the journey begins, mid-way through the journey or not at all.
Final berth listing will not be completed until at 4-hours prior to departure. Once the checked list is posted, often final cancellations and government official reservations are re-positioned which allow WL and RAC to move up in the queue. It is also possible that the list moves downward as officials are granted priority seating, and later confirmed seats become non-confirmed. Booking non-confirmed is really a gamble, but more often then not the seat will become available, especially if your earlier in the queue.
If you arrive at the station while still waitlisted, wait until the train arrives. A reservation list will be posted at the beginning of each class or tier. Locate your name according to reservation number. If your name is not listed, your ticket remains non-confirmed. Track personnel will also be able to assist you.
Boarding without accommodation may still be possible. The conductors are known to assist and turn a blind eye to providing foreigners and students available seats without a proper reservation. A bribe payment will be expected, typically for around 1.5x the original cost of the ticket of the tier. Any exchange will be discussed upfront immediately after departure, and expected to be completed upon arrival. Typically you will be placed in AC1 or AC2 alongside officials who will also be aware of your accommodation and will expect a partial payment as well. Because a number of seats are reserved for government officials in top tiers, it is easy for officials and conductors to "sell off" an accommodation to travelers.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Rail travel in India
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Rail travel in India Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.