If you are unfamiliar with the entire train travel process and what exactly a train PNR status is, this may be your starting point. PNR stands for ‘Passenger Name Record’. It is a 10-digit number that is printed on your ticket. The PNR status on the Indian Railway acts as a unique identity for each and every passenger traveling on the IRCTC.

It is interesting to note that whether you have booked your ticket online or at a train station counter, you are always assigned a PNR number. In case you are traveling in a group, a maximum of six passengers can be booked with a single PNR number.

COMPONENTS OF A PNR

Often when you are new to the world of train travel and you manage to book your ticket on the IRCTC website, you need to know the details of the ten-digit number on your e-ticket. Here we try to address some basic questions that generally arise in the mind of a passenger.

So first, what kind of information is included in the Passenger Name Register in the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation? (IRCTC)

It includes:

– The personal data of a passenger, such as name, age and gender.

– Other details related to the ticket, such as the date of the trip, the train number, the travel class, the travel position, along with the bus, the seat number and the itinerary.

– Information such as details of the transaction, along with the mode of payment, the transaction ID and the ticket charge.

SIMPLIFYING THE PNR

It is interesting to note that the PNR number can be divided into two parts. That’s how.

1. The PNR has two parts: the first three digits and the last seven digits. The first three digits of the PNR will generally indicate the Passenger Booking System, which is generally referred to as PRS, from which your ticket was booked.

2. The first digit of the PNR number depends on the area the train is coming from. It could be New Delhi, Chennai, Secunderabad, Mumbai, or Kolkata. For example, if a ticket is booked from Kolkata, the first digit of the PNR must be 6. Also, the next two digits of the PNR will depend on the PRS center located in Kolkata.

3. The last seven digits are randomly generated, but are unique and unique to the individual passenger / group of travelers.

HOW THE IRCTC PNR STATUS WORKS

So by now you know the basics of a PNR number. Let’s understand how it works. Every time you book a train ticket from the IRCTC website, from other private websites, or from the train station ticket counter, a unique PNR number is generated. Now, this same number is entered in the CRIS database or the Railway Information Systems Center, which will preserve the information of all the people who travel. But hey! What is a PNR status? This is what you need to know:

The PNR status of the person’s train tells you whether the ticket is confirmed or not.

Here’s a helpful guide to PNR codes and their elaborate meanings:

Confirm (CNF): It means that to travel, you have a confirmed seat on the train in question. When confirmed, the seat number is assigned when the charts are prepared.

Canceled (CAN): It means that the seat reserved by the passenger has been canceled.

Reservation Against Cancellation (RAC): The RAC ticket will only be issued once all seats are blocked, this means that the reserved seat is on the waiting list. Now if you are lucky and one of the original reservations is canceled, you will still get the seat and it will be confirmed! Otherwise, if that does not happen, you must share the seat with another passenger.

HOW TO CHECK THE PNR STATUS LIVE

Just follow these easy steps.

1. You can check the PNR status on the official IRCTC website. So log in and hit IRCTC in the address bar.

2. On the page that appears, click on the ‘PNR inquiry’ link.

3. And then, enter your provided PNR number and click on the ‘Submit’ tab.

4. The status of your PNR appears.

These days, to save yourself the hassle of logging in and checking the PNR status on the website, you can simply get it via SMS (Short Message Service) from your mobile phone. To do this, send an SMS in one of the following formats:

1) ’10 digit number’ and send it to 5676757

2) ’10 digit number’ and send it to 139.

However, another way to perform a PNR status query is by using Android applications. There are specific applications in the Play Store that allow you to check the status of the PNR. Just download one of the apps on your smartphone device and check the PNR status.

MORE ABOUT PNR

Here are some more tips:

– Do you know how to locate your PNR number on tickets? Well, one can find the PNR number in the upper left corner on a hard copy of the ticket. However, on an e-ticket, the PNR will be mentioned at the top of the page in a different cell.

– Do you know what an RLWL state is? Well, tickets that have this PNR status will be issued for the stations that are between the destination stations and their source. These stations have a different seat quota.

– What exactly is a passenger name registration status prediction? If at the beginning, one does not get a confirmed seat, then one can know the chances of getting a confirmed seat through PNR prediction. This happens by using past PNR data that is not open to the public. This PNR prediction uses data analysis and machine learning techniques to announce the winner! You can log into various Indian Railways websites to get PNR prediction.

1) Just enter your PNR number in the box

2) Click Submit

3) And the PNR prediction will be displayed based on the traveler’s information.

Please note that the advertised status is based on computer algorithms and may be subject to errors.

Now that you have as much information as possible about the PNR, plan your next train trip with ease.