Do waitlists update in real time?

I tried Googling, but can't seem to find this trivial question.

I'd like to know whether the wait lists updates in real time, as my tickets, which carries a wait list of:

RLWL/30 / WL20

and

PQWL/15/WL9

I've been looking at them for a week now, but they don't seem to be updating (increasing or decreasing).

Do they update in real time, or will I never get to see the progress until the chart is created?

Thanks!

Yes, it does.

A lot of people cancel tickets when travel date approaches. So, no need to be desperate

BTW, what is your travel date, class of journey and train?

Ooh so that just means I've got very bad luck? They don't seem to be updating! :/

I have two journeys, travel dates are:

25 May 2018
Class 2A

And

28 May 2018
Class 2A

Trains are Kamrup Express and Darjeeling Mail respectively. Sorry, forgot to include them above.

When would a waitlist status change? When some one who has a confirmed ticket or some one who is wait listed earlier than you cancel their ticket.

Why would some one cancel a train ticket a month and half before the actual departure date? Movement, if any, in the wait list numbers happen closer to travel date.

Or to give a clear answer, so far as I know ticket status does update in real time. You can check current ticket availability and note how the status of available tickets keeps changing as tickets get booked.

It's not just that some tickets get returned as the travel date approaches. There are also various special ticket quotas, and these usually don't get opened for general passengers until charting is done.

Thank you all, yeah you guys do make sense.

I was just worried because my tickets are not GNWL, but RLWL and PQWL. I have read that these have very low chance of confirmation - I know it's still 1 month away, but if I know it's unlikely to be confirmed, then I'd plan some alternative workabouts.

It would be better to have some alternative plans.

In another thread you had mentioned that you were not able to see the seats in FTQ in IRCTC. Were you able to review that again?

Seems like they only have 2 available FTQ quotas for this route. I've only gotten the same results (2 available) for almost all the different trains.

I did however find an alternative route that has a 3GNWL/3WL waitng list - do you advise I cancel my current ticket and book that? Or am I thinking too much?

My suggestion would be book the alternative route also. Don't cancel any of the tickets till one set of them is confirmed.

Will do!

If I do cancel any of the tickets later, I will receive a refund right?

You will receive a refund if you cancel the tickets. The amount will depend on when you cancel the tickets. Read the refund rules.

I did a bit of searching - if I change the destination to stop at about 2 stations later, I get GNWL instead of RLWL (which I suppose means higher chance of confirmation).

I managed to get two combinations:
GNWL3/WL3 and GNWL24/WL5

I understand that the lower the number in WL is, the better. But do you think I should go for the first or second one? Because it seems like the second one has more cancellations.

It will all depend on the train, class and the stations that you select.

There is a separate wait list thread where you could post your wait list related question.

If you cancel an online ticket, does it get added back to your six-tickets-per-month quota?