(I typed most of this in February in anticipation of IRCTC accepting foreign credit cards, but it's still not happened despite announcements that it would, but they still say it will happen in April)
There's been some changes lately to what happens after the reservation chart is prepared for each train, and there's also been 2 significant booking options brought online, the changes allow some really useful booking opportunities, especially for those wanting a bit of flexibility in their itineraries, but I need to go through some of the basics first to help people understand the changes.
IRCTC, the biggest website for purchasing train tickets, will soon be accepting foreign credit/debit cards, meaning foreign tourists no longer have to use the dreadful cleartrip website to book train tickets.
Even if you're a regular cleartrip user, I suggest you abandon the website ASAP, it not only doesn't deserve your custom, it's actually getting worse by the day, websites that rely on data from the Indian Railway server need to update that data every day, cleartrip have failed to do this since at least December, that's the first time I started to notice related problems, the restrictions now faced by cleartrip customers are too serious to be ignored, I'll point them out throughout this article.
Look for availability between the stations you want to travel first, everything below is just in case there's already a waitlist, RAC between your chosen stations should normally be better than looking for other options, RAC should move to confirmed when reservation chart is prepared.(RAC is a berth kept as 2 seats, you sit on the seat, then when someone doesn't show up for the train, you take the vacant berth, and the other seated RAC passenger converts those 2 seats into a berth)
Booking quotas
This sounds boring, but it's quite easy to understand, and will significantly improve your understanding of waitlists and the chance of a waitlisted ticket getting confirmed, and will also show you how to look for an alternative confirmed ticket.
Indian Railways sells a limited number of confirmed tickets for each class and sector of a train's journey, then sometimes sells 'RAC' tickets (if quota large enough), then starts a waitlist (WL)
You'll often see GN, RL or PQ next to a waitlisted ticket, eg. RLWL.
GN = General quota
RL = Remote Location quota
PQ = Pooled quota
Some examples of waitlist tickets below.
GNWL21/WL17 = you were the 21st person to join the waitlist, but there have been 4 cancellations, so your waitlist position is now 17.
GNWL21/RAC 04 = there have been enough cancellations to get you on the RAC list, 4 more cancellations and you'll have a confirmed ticket.
GNWL21/CNF = waitlist ticket now confirmed ticket, carriage/berth details will be available after reservation chart is prepared.
How Indian Railways decide what booking quotas to use
Indian Railways introduces a train, it runs from station A to station Z, if they feel most passengers will travel from A or B to X, Y or Z (or if ticket sales suggest this), then the train is classed as an 'End to End' train, and all tickets (minus hidden quotas, more later) are placed in the General quota (no RL or PQ in these trains), if someone then books a confirmed ticket from A to M, then an extra ticket is available for someone booking from station M (very useful to remember this), a good example is train 10111, it runs from Mumbai CST to Madgaon in Goa, most passengers are travelling from Mumbai to southern Maharashtra or Goa, if someone books from Mumbai to Ratnagiri, there will be an extra ticket available from Ratnagiri to anywhere up to Madgaon, perfect if you're slowly making your way down the west coast. (just checked train for today, no tickets available in any class from Mumbai to Goa, but tickets available in all classes (except 2A) from Ratnagiri to Goa.
Another train introduced by Indian Railways runs from A to Z, but they think many passengers will want to travel from A to F, and from F to K (or Z), and from K to Z, and ticket sales prove this to be true, so this train isn't considered an 'End to End' train, A/B to X/Y/Z passengers are always considered first, and will be placed in the General quota, and 70% of tickets (not including hidden quotas) are placed in the GN quota, in this example, and again based on ticket sales, station F would be classed as a Remote Location station and allotted 20% of tickets, and station K would be classed as a Remote Location station and allotted 5% of tickets (always less the further from the originating station), the other 5% of tickets would be allotted to the Pooled Quota for passengers who don't fit into those categories, overall, it's a very clever system, the 20% allocated to station F are also available for passengers only wanting to travel from A to F, then the 5% available to station K are also available to passengers wanting to travel from A or F to K.
The reason the pooled quota is needed is to prevent 100 passengers booking from station L to M, thus preventing 100 passengers from booking longer journeys.
A good example is train 14864, it starts in Jodhpur, then travels via Jaipur and Agra to Varanasi, Jaipur and Agra are remote location stations for this train, search for the train on the following website (search Jodhpur to Varanasi), then click on the train name or number and look at the bottom half of the page, you'll see a 'RL' next to Jaipur and Agra Fort stations.
Train & availability search
Easily the most user-friendly website for train/availability search is www.erail.in , use it to follow the below examples, the mobile version isn't anywhere near as good as the full version, so if using a tablet, find out how to stop your device from sending out a message telling websites that yours is a mobile device, erail has a decent page explaining how to use the site (http://erail.in/help/howto.html , the Train Search, Seat Availability and Change Booking Station sections are most important).
There's 2 reasons why it's important to understand the different booking quotas, first, the number of berths allocated to GN, RL & PQ can be substantially different, in Sleeper Class on train 10111, there 361 berths used, and in 2-tier air con from Agra to Varanasi on train 14864, there's only 2 berths used, so if you hold a WL6 ticket, you only need a small percentage to cancel on train 10111, but you've got no chance on train 14864, the 2nd reason, I'll show you later how understanding these booking quotas allows you to book in a different way that often gets you a confirmed ticket when there doesn't appear to be any available.
Whenever you're considering buying a waitlisted ticket, find out how many seats/berths are used for that train/class/sector combination, search erail for the exact same booking, then click on the train name, then click on the date, the days the train runs (and can be booked for) will be hi-lighted, count back 6 days from the last date and select that date, then search for availability, this will give you the availability for the furthest 6 dates, in most cases, the highest availability numbers you see will be the maximum number of seats/berths used for the train/class/sector combination.
Ideally, your better off on the general quota, then the Remote Location quota, and last, the Pooled Quota (never PQWL), there's 3 main reasons for this, first, General Quota is almost always bigger, 2nd, all unused quotas are used to reduce General waitlist, 3rd., the changed procedure after the reservation chart is prepared makes Remote Location waitlists less likely to get confirmed. (more later)
Unused quotas
Here's something that will surprise many people, when bookings begin (4 months ahead for most trains) less than 60% of seats/berths are on direct sale to the general public, sometimes as low as 50%, the rest are in what some like to call 'hidden quotas'.
The largest hidden quota (30% of all tickets) are Tatkal (last minute) and premium Tatkal, these tickets are released the morning before the train departs from it's originating station (so if train starts it's journey from Delhi on Monday and gets to your boarding station in Goa on Tuesday, then you need to book when Tatkal opens on Sunday, the day before the train departs it's originating station.), Tatkal tickets are more expensive, and you've got no chance of booking one online in the first 10 minutes after booking opens (10:00am for AC classes, 11:00am for non AC), but if there's still Tatkal availability after that, then book online.
Often the largest 'hidden quota' after Tatkal is the HO quota, sometimes referred to as 'emergency' quota, this quota mostly takes up 10-20% of total seats/berths (I regularly used to see an HO quota of 4 berths in 1st Class AC, but that was from a total of only 10 berths, so 40%, the HO quota is supposed to be for emergencies, often influential people try to persuade the reservation supervisor to get them onto the HO quota, but the railways are really getting strict on who can use the HO quota (they fear touts are getting hold of HO quota tickets), and it's becoming difficult to get on the quota, but if you had a serious problem and needed to travel in an emergency, it's worth remembering this quota.
Other hidden quotas include Foreign Tourist (only available if applying in person at a few select stations in India), Defence, Handicapped, Parliament and a few others.
When the reservation chart is prepared, any unused quotas (mostly HO, and sometimes unused Tatkal) is used to reduce the General & Tatkal waitlists (and RAC), this can sometimes completely clear the waitlist, it really can be surprising some of the waitlist numbers that get confirmed, especially if Tatkal tickets remain unused.
In the past, any seats/berths still available after the General quota waitlist has cleared were then used to reduce the Remote Location waitlist, however, this has changed recently. (see Current Reservations details later)
So, now you know the General Quota has big advantages, lets look into how to change the way you book to get onto the General Quota.
Changing boarding station to get on better quota.
It's important to remember the following, it sounds super easy, but you'd be amazed how many people don't get it immediately (It took me a while).
Booking station = the station you book your ticket to start from, (normally the 'From' station when booking)
Destination station = the station where you want to get off the train (normally the 'to' station when booking), always remember, you have the option to book to a destination past where you want to travel to, you may find availability this way.
Boarding station = the station where you want to board the train, this is the confusing part, as the booking and boarding station are normally the same, the following example should help you to understand.
Train 14659 travels from Delhi via Jaipur and Jodhpur to Jaisalmer, Delhi (and all stations before Jaipur Jn use the General quota, Jaipur is a Remote Location station and has a much smaller quota, here is the availability for 3rd and 4th May.
Train Number Train Name Date
14659 DLI JSM EXPRESS 3-5-2016
From Jaipur Jn. to Jaisalmer
Date, ........ Class - 2A ...... Class -3A
3- 5-2016 ..AVAILABLE 2 ...RLWL4/WL4
4- 5-2016 ..RLWL2/WL2 .....AVAILABLE 7
3-tier air con (3A) is in a remote location waitlist for the 3rd. May departure from Jaipur Jn. 2-tier air con (2A) is waitlisted for the 4th.
Gandhinagar Jaipur is a station 6 km before Jaipur Jn, but because it's before Jaipur Jn.(main station in Jaipur), it's in the much larger Delhi quota (it can't be in Jaipur quota, many people will book from Delhi to Jaipur Jn, so Gandhinagar Jaipur station passengers couldn't sit in those same seats till Jaipur station, it's worth remembering this)
Here's the availability from Gandhinagar Jaipur station to Jaisalmer.
14659 DLI JSM EXPRESS 3-5-2016
From Gandhinagar JPR to Jaisalmer
Date ...........Class - 2A .........Class -3A
3- 5-2016 ...AVAILABLE 12 ....AVAILABLE 51
4- 5-2016 ...AVAILABLE 20 ....AVAILABLE 53
So if you want to travel from Jaipur Jn to Jaisalmer in 2A on 4th May, book from Gandhinagar jaipur to Jaisalmer and change boarding station to Jaipur Jn, you'll then get a confirmed ticket from the Delhi general quota, you'll get the opportunity to change boarding station when booking your ticket (on IRCTC), but later in this post I'll explain another couple of options that offer a bit of flexibility.
Sadly, you can no longer change the boarding station on cleartrip, well, that's not strictly true, you can change the boarding station, but cleartrip then only offers you the availability of the boarding station quota (RLWL2 in the above 2A example), so what's the point of changing boarding station, however, you can book as described above (from Gandhinagar JPR), but don't change boarding station, then at a later date you can change the boarding station online at the IRCTC website.
Change boarding station online (after ticket purchase)
To those still awake, yes, I just said you can now change your boarding station online, up till 24 hours before the train departs from it's originating station, and it's really easy to do on the IRCTC website (not cleartrip), if you think outside the box, and let your imagination run wild, you'll realise this can be really really useful.
(those with experience of Indian Railways have done this for years, but we've had to apply at a reservation office in India at least 24 hours in advance, so never really used this option to it's full potential.)
Imagine you're visiting India for the first time, your time is limited, you'd like some flexibility as you don't know how long you'll need in certain places, but you want to book your transport before you arrive, you could book a train to depart from Delhi 4 days after you arrive, then if Delhi doesn't do it for you, go to Agra, Alwar, Mathura, Vrindavan, Bharatpur, even Jaipur, just make sure your booked train passes close to the place you go, get a map, get inventive.
Search on erail for your first train from Delhi, click on the train name to see what stations the train calls at, look at alternative trains on the same route, the following spring to mind.
Many trains from Delhi to Varanasi (or Mughal Sarai) call at Tundla (22km from Agra)
Poorva Express is well timed for Delhi-Tundla-Gaya (for Bodh Gaya) 3 days week (M, Tu, F)
Delhi to Jhansi (for Orchha), Gwalior, Bhopal or even Khajuraho all pass through Agra.
Trains from Delhi to Sawai Madhoppur (for Ranthambhore) or Kota (for Bundi) and Udaipur (Mewar Exp.) pass through Mathura (also for Vrindavan) and Bharatpur (also only 50km from Agra and less from Fathepur Sikri)
Goa to Kerala, maybe check out Gokarna (Gokarna Rd station or Ankola or Kumta) or a great place to spend half a day (or more) is Murudeshwar (Murdeshwar station or Bhatkal)
Getting a train from Udaipur, consider Chittaurgarh
Heading south from Chennai (to Madurai, Kanyakumari or Trivandrum), you could change boarding station to Villupuram Jn and go visit Pondicherry (about 38km from Villupuram)
The above is not even the beginning of a list, use your imagination, there's endless options.
In all cases, book ticket to do full journey you originally planned, then if you decide to try somewhere different, change boarding station.
Please don't misunderstand this situation, you still only get 1 journey on your chosen train, and once you change the boarding station you can't change it back (the seat/berth will be given to someone else till your new boarding station), if you planned to go from Delhi to Varanasi, and changed your boarding station to Tundla so you could visit Agra on the way, you then have to find alternative transport from Delhi to Agra and Agra to Tundla, however, short distance transport is relatively easy in India, even trains. and remember, boarding point has to be changed at least 24 hours before train departs from it's originating station, and that station might not be the station you first planned to board the train.
Book Current Reservations online.
This is a major boost for tourists, it's one of those secret booking options that's rarely mentioned on travel forums because of the difficulty in explaining it all (including having to go to the 'current reservation' window to book the ticket), but now we can book online (not on cleartrip, did I mention what an awful website it is?)
'Current Reservations' are the seats/berths still available after the first reservation chart has been prepared (always 4 hours before departure now, if not day before for early morning departures), in the past, any remaining seats/berths were used to reduce the Remote Location waitlist, but now it's given first to current reservations, and only if there's still some left when 2nd chart prepared (25 minutes before departure), only then does it get used to reduce a Remote Location waitlist.
Current Reservations now operate differently to normal tickets: -
Normal advance reservations open 120 days ahead of the day a train departs from it's originating station, so if it departs that station the day before it gets to your boarding station, it can be booked 121 days ahead.(booking for all sectors opens at the same time, even if the early part of journey is a day before the later part of the journey), you are allowed to change your boarding station once.
Tatkal (& Premium Tatkal) tickets go on sale the day before a train departs from it's originating station, again, booking for all sectors of the train's journey open at the same time, you're not allowed to change your boarding station.
Current Reservations open 4 hours before the train departs from it's originating station, and is only available to be booked from stations in the same quota as the originating station, usually the General Quota, in the earlier Delhi-Jaipur-Jaisalmer train example, when current reservations open you can book to begin your journey at any station before Jaipur Jn, but not Jaipur Jn because it's a Remote Location station for that train.(you're not allowed to change your boarding station), there is a 2nd reservation chart prepared for the train about 25-30 minutes before the train departs, and only then are any available seats/berths used to reduce the Remote Location waitlists, Current Reservations then opens at the Remote Location station (or 4 hours before train departs from RL station)
Current Reservations are only available from individual stations that the train calls at, what I mean is, if you search erail for trains between Delhi and Varanasi, erail will list trains from any station in Delhi to any station in Varanasi, Current Reservations doesn't work that way, you need to search from each individual station.
Here's some station codes that could come in useful when searching: -
Delhi - DLI, NDLS, DEE, NZM, ANVT, DSJ
Kolkata - HWH, SDAH, KOAA, SRC,
Mumbai - BCT, CSTM, DDR, BDTS, LTT, PNVL, BSR,
Varanasi - BSB, MUV, MGS
Chennai - MAS, MS
Ernakulam (Kochi) - ERS, ERN
Agra - AGC, AF
Below is the result of a current availability search for New Delhi, 2 important things to remember: -
0 = there were seats/berths available when Current Reservations opened, but all have now been sold.
NE = there were no seats/berths available when Current Reservations opened.
Attachment 80681
You can search for Current Reservation info using erail, go to the bottom of the trains list and look for 'current seats', but it's a pain as you only have the option to search for the 2 stations in the 'from' and 'to' section.
I find it easier to search on etrain.
Other significant booking rule changes
Full fare to be charged for child....
From 10th April, the following will apply for child fares.
Child 0 to 4 years - travels free, but no seat/berth
Child 5 to 11 years - pays half adult fare, but no seat/berth
Child 5 to 11 years - pays full adult fare if they require their own seat/berth
12 years old and above are considered as adults and pay full adult fare, and get own seat/berth.
I have no idea how this is supposed to work in seat only classes like ECC, CC or 2S, and I'm sure it will be fun if the accompanying adult end up in an RAC seat.
New Lower Berth Quota rules
Indian Railways have increased the Lower Berth Quota by 50%, the new lower berth quota will take effect on trains departing from 1st September 2016 or before.
Sleeper Class LBQ will go to 6 per carriage
3-tier air con will go to 3 per carriage (with 4 per carriage on Rajdhani, Duronto and other 'all AC' trains.)
2-tier air con will go to 3 berths per carriage.
Eligibility: -
Men - 60 years and above
Women 58 years and above
Females 45 years and above who are travelling alone.
Pregnant women
The really important change is the 'travelling alone' requirement has been dropped for Senior Citizens.
Hint, if you're eligible, and you find a waitlist when looking for availability, try looking again after changing the quota to 'Lower Berth'.
If you're eligible, you just book as normal and will be given lower berths (if available) automatically.
Last month I done a proposal to quadruple the number of lower berths available to Senior Citizens, but it was too close to the rail budget, and didn't get any support, view the proposal here.
Thank you everyone at Indiamike for endless great memories, it's been a pleasure, but now it's time for 'steven_ber' to take a break from India, it's dominated my life for too long, so all the forum activity and google alerts have to stop for now, I've requested all my 'steven ber' accounts be closed, we're off travelling again very soon and need to concentrate on that planning.
Best wishes to all and safe travels.
Steve
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