What Is A PNR Status?

What is PNR status?

PNR is better known as 'Passenger Name Record'. Basically, it is a detailed information record saved in the database of Indian Railways computer reservation system (IR-CRS). The basis of this record journey details for a passenger, or a group of passengers are saved. We will tell you in brief about, What is a PNR status and How you can check the railway PNR status?

Usually, when a person book a railway ticket for a train in Indian Railways, than all the details of the person are stored in relational database of centralized reservation system. The details of that person are with a unique ten digit number which is the reference number of the passenger and is called as PNR. This number is printed on the ticket.

This ten digit number consist of the personal information like name, age, gender etc.  of the passenger. This PNR consist of the columns to store booking status and current status of the ticket.

Every train has limited number of seats, so it is possible that sometime one may not get a confirmed reserved ticket. So, to book the status of such waitlist (W/L) ticket changes are required if there is any availability of reserved seats due to cancellation. So, this new current reservation status is known as PNR status.

How to Check Railway PNR Status?

You can check your ticket' reservation status from the official site of irctc by inserting PNR number and clicking on the "Get PNR Status" button. By doing this you will get the current status of your booked ticket.

In addition to ticket status, you can get the other details like train name, boarding date, boarding point and your destination along with the ticket number. This is beneficial for you to check the status of tickets reserved with IRCTC or Indian railway counter. If you want to know about train schedule, seat availability, station code, train name and number using this intuitive interface you can do this by visiting this official site of irtc.

How does Indian Railways Booking Work?

The system releases RACs (Reservation Against Cancellation), once all the tickets are sold. Later, the railway department release WL(Waitlist) Tickets once all the RAC quota is exhausted. So, if a person cancels his/her confirmed booking, than automatically the next person in queue given the first preferance. 

There can be three scenarios:

1. WL#/ WL# - Waitlisted: Cannot board the Train

2. WL#/RAC# - RAC: You can board the train but may have to share a berth.

3. WL#/CNF - Confirmed: You can board the train with confirmed berth.