Abrreviation Confusion

Mr.Hunaman

Hello everyone.
This site has been superb in helping my research.Thanks to everyone and Mr.Mike in particular.
I have a question that I fear is going to recieve an obvious answer...
I'm assuming that WL,on the train seat availability page,means waiting list.But why are their two differant figures?....and what does WL/Available (with no numbers) mean?

Mr.H

steven_ber

Hello Mr H and welcome to indiamike.com


WL/06 - WL/02

The above means that you are the 6th person to be added to the waitlist, but 4 people have already cancelled either conformed or waitlisted tickets, so you have moved to waitlist position 2.

Available means there are berths available.

RAC/02 ---- RAC comes between the waitlist and available, RAC (reserved against Cancellation) gets you a seat on the train and a berth at the earliest opportunity. (the number of RAC places can vary)

Lets assume there are 4 RAC places for a given class on a train.....

WL/06 - WL/06 means you are in waitlist position 6 and there have been no cancellations, you are 10 cancellations away from a confirmed berth (inc. the 4 RAC places)

WL/06 - WL/02 means you are in waitlist position 2 and there have been 4 cancellations, you are 6 cancellations away from a confirmed berth.

WL/06 - RAC/02 means you are in RAC position 2 and there have been 8 cancellations, you are 2 cancellations away from a confirmed berth.

WL/06 - AVAILABLE means you have a confirmed berth and there have been at least 10 cancellations.

The first waitlist figure will always remain the same, as this is the position you joined the waitlist.

Lots of people book a few tickets, so often a high waitlist number can still move on to become available, particularly in the last few days before departure, but this may not happen around busy holiday periods and can vary depending on what class you're travelling in.

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Mr.Hunaman

Hi Steven...I was hoping you'd reply.Your threads have been of considerable help.
I last visited India seven years ago and did'nt think twice about last minute seat availabilty.I get the impression that pre-booking is more a neccessity these days,although your last paragraph gave me optimism.
I arrive in Delhi next wednesday morning and intend to get the shatabdhi to Haridwar on friday.Should I lose sleep over the fact that I have'nt booked ?
Is it safe to leave things till the afternoon of my arrival?

Thanks
Dave H

steven_ber

I have edited my above reply and will add more later. (then do a link to it from the 'Train Info' thread).

Shatabdi Express's have tickets held back for 'day of departure' sale, they can be purchased from a special kiosk either on the platform or by the entrance to the platform, I can't comment on the position of the Kiosk in New Delhi station as I've only seen it with my own eyes in Chennai Central station.

I have no idea how many tickets are held back or what time the Kiosk opens.

I suggest you check it out on Thursday to be sure of what to do on Friday.

Please let me know the times so I can inform others.

Make sure you buy a platform ticket if you're going onto New Delhi station without a journey ticket, I got stopped twice last year and they seemed dissapointed that I had a platform ticket.

mridula

Trying to book the same day train tickets of Shatabdi at New Delhi is not so easy, I have seen long Q.

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mridula

http://www.gonomad.com/traveltalesfromindia/

steven_ber

Thanks for the warning mridula.

Long queue's are great if you're at the front, buy a newspaper and get there early.

Judi

Hi Mr Hanuman - welcome to another Tyke

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Mr.Hunaman

Hello Judi

I did't know I was a Tyke.....what is that?

is it anything to do with Cleckheaton?

(wow....Cleckheaton finally makes it to IndiaMike....lets see if Steven Ber knows how to get ti that strange town!!!)

Judi

And there was me, thinkin' you were a Yorkshire Lad! Ooops, sorry, but I misspelled your name in my earlier post Definitely some monkey business going on her .........