Kaustav Ghosh
Hello, my dearest viewers. Thank you for your co-operation. As I have promised you to bring some post on tricks and tips in 2022, the wait is finally over. This is the first post in this category and there will be definitely more coming in the future in this category.
You may ask why this category? It is because of some experience-kind of bitter. There is a bengali proverb-
“কিছু মানুষ দেখে শেখে আর কিছু মানুষ ঠেকে শেখে”।।
If you translate it correctly it will mean some people learn just by observing, some others will only learn unless or untill they suffer or face the wrath. Before you face any kind of misguidance, mis-management of railways(This article mainly aimed at travellers of Indian railways) or anything unwelcoming, you may find this article helpful.
If you have reservation train ticket, always double check the seat number and coach number before boarding the train. This is the era of internet, now it is easy to know the position of the coach, position of the seat irrespective of classes of the coach before boarding the train. You may find it in various websites relating to Indian railways; for the last one decade I am using- indiarailinfo.com, it helped me a lot to know about the exact position of a coach in any train. It will become more helpful when you are not boarding the train from the originating station or you are boarding the train from a semi remote area or suburban area. You will be able to know on which days that train will run and how many halts it will have.
Now lets presume that while booking your ticket in the Irctc website, you find that if you book your ticket it will be in waiting list. In that case first you should check the probability of the confirmation. There is an option. If you find at least 85% up, you will be on a safer side to book the ticket though there is no guarantee that it will get confirmed.
You should also check whether your waiting list ticket is PQWL or GNWL or TQWL or RLWL.
GNWL usually means general waiting list which will get confirmed only after any passenger cancel its confirmed ticket.
TQWL stands for Tatkal Waitlist. When a passenger does a tatkal booking and is put on the waitlist, the status is shown as TQWL. Confirmation of this ticket is very rare. Pooled Quota Waitlist are those passengers travelling between intermediate stations and have a separate waitlist from the general waitlist.
RLWL or Remote Location Waitlist has high chances of confirmation. Smaller stations have quota of seats and waiting seats on these intermediate stations are given RLWL status.1
Another aspect you should also note that now a days thanks to the internet you will be able to know in which platform your train will arrive and/or depart, the time of halt or wait and its departure.
While traveling in a train sometimes I also check the details of the station in the google map- it gives me fare idea about how many exit point that station have and where does those exist point opens up.
Officials of Indian railways are usually alert as per my experience- either you can tweet your problem you are facing in train, platform, any place which comes under the jurisdiction of Indian railways to @railwayseva, @RailMinIndia, @RPF_India or you can write your complain in Rail madad website.
To track your train, there are so many apps available as well as various websites. You can order food online by mentioning your pnr printed in your ticket number, your food will come to your seat. Though it is better to bring home made food, water along with you. For long distance travel, there will be a pantry coach to feed your hunger. You should also check even after you have reservation how many trains run from your originating station to your destination- it may help you in long run.
By the way last but not the least you should always do some research for that place you want to travel; who knows you may discover something unique, you may discover your life.
——————
1)https://www.zeebiz.com/india/news-booking-train-tickets-from-rac-to-pqwl-these-14-codes-tell-you-about-your-pnr-status-seat-availability-92020
.
Leave a Reply