Indian Railways Reservation Rules: 5 Things To Know About Waitlisted Tickets

IRCTC or Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, the e-ticketing arm of Indian Railways, offers the facility of online booking of train tickets. The advance booking for train ticket opens 120 days before the date of journey, according to IRCTC's official website - irctc.co.in. Passengers booking a ticket are assigned a specific status which can be confirmed (full berth), RAC (Reservation Against Cancellation), or waiting (WL). If the passenger status is marked as WL followed by a number, it means the passenger has a waitlisted status. 

Here are 5 things to know about IRCTC waitlisted tickets:

1. Name of the passengers whose status is fully confirmed / fully RAC (Reservation Against Cancellation) after chart preparation, their names appear in charts and they can undertake their journey.

2. Name of the passengers whose names are partly confirmed/partly waitlist or partly RAC/partly waitlist, their names appear in charts including the waitlist passengers, according to IRCTC.

3. Cancellation of e-tickets by the customer/agent through IRCTC's website is permitted only before chart preparation of the train. For any claims on e-tickets cancelled after the preparation of reservation charts, the passenger has to send an email to etickets@irctc.co.in giving full details of the ticket.

4. Names of the passengers who are left out fully (all the passengers in the transaction) on waiting list after chart preparation, their names are dropped and do not appear in charts. They are not allowed to board the train. If detected traveling in the train, they shall be treated as passenger traveling without ticket as per extant railway rules.

5. The cancellation of waiting list passengers are done by IRCTC after chart preparation and refund is credited to customer's account electronically.