Out of various unpredictable things, a railway reservation ticket is a notable one, one cannot simply predict the chances of getting a waitlist ticket confirmed. Especially this problems bugs our mind when it is about long distance journey.

For those who took train journies bit less, it is very difficult to understand. The waitlist facility allows you to book a ticket. However, you aren’t supposed to board the train unless there are enough cancellations to at least get RAC (Reservation Against Cancellation) status.

Out of the 2A, 3A and SL categories, each one has different chances of cancellation and confirmation, as the number of seats differs. Not knowing if you’ll be able to travel makes it hard to plan the rest of your journey.

However, there are a couple of easy ways to find out the likelihood of your waitlisted ticket being confirmed (or even advancing to RAC status). And they’re fast, free, and reliable.

India Rail Info Website:

Here’s what you do:

1. Go to the India Rail Info website and sign up.
2. Go to the PNR Forum tab.
3. Enter your PNR (passenger reservation number) where specified and click on “Post PNR for Prediction/Analysis”.

After taking your PNR, the source will automatically retrieve the details of your booking and post them on the forum, and the results are more often up to 75% accurate. You might start getting answers from different people within 5 to 10 minutes.

How the Waitlist Works:

And when you book a waitlisted ticket, it will show two numbers. For an instance, WL 115/45, here the number on the left indicates the length that the waitlist has gone up too. The number on the right indicates the current position of the waitlist. This gives you an idea of the rate that people cancel their tickets and how quickly (or slowly) the waitlist will move. Here, your position has bettered 70 places and there are 45 more people ahead of you.

On the other hand, your waitlisted ticket will also show two numbers. For example WL 46/40.  The number on the left is your position on the waitlist when you bought the ticket. The number on the right is your current position on the ongoing waitlist.

In general, you must understand that people are less likely to cancel tickets during festivals, on weekends, on overnight journeys, and on long distance trips.

Quotas Also Play An Important Role:

As far as the quotas are concerned, Indian Railways trains have various categories such as Foreign Tourists, Ladies, Physically Handicapped, and Defense Personnel.

A fair number of seats are included here, though they don’t exist on all trains. Now, if the quotas don’t get filled in time, the vacant seats will be given to the general public and their names will be added to the waitlist when the train’s chart is prepared. This is about four hours before the scheduled departure.