By Aditya S Nivarthi
On reaching Ahmedabad, Rajesh’s family asks him to go an urgent trip to Marwar Junction. For this trip, he books a third AC ticket online by Haridwar express 7 days prior to the journey date and gets a RAC ticket. RAC stands for reservation against cancellation. This means Rajesh may get a berth reserved in his name only if another passenger travelling by this train in the same class cancels his ticket.
However, Indian Railways provides Rajesh seating accommodation as it does for all RAC ticket holders. But those with waiting list status after the reservation charts have been prepared are not allowed to board the train.
Had Rajesh received a waitlisted ticket, he is not guaranteed both –a seat and a berth – until there are cancellations sufficient enough for his waitlisted position to move upwards.
Cancellation of RAC / Waitlisted tickets
Urgent family commitment at Ahmedabad forces Rajesh to cancel his ticket. He does his cancellation five hours before chart preparation of that train. He receives a refund after deduction of Rs 60 as clerkage.
According to extant IR rules, in the case of RAC/WL tickets, the amount is refunded after just deducting a clerkage charge (Rs 60 for all classes and Rs 30 for second class). However, IR will not provide any refund on RAC e-tickets if the ticket is cancelled and TDR (ticket deposit receipt) has not been filed up to 30 minutes before the scheduled departure of the train.
Waitlisted tickets e-tickets are automatically cancelled if they don’t get confirmed during chart preparation. Refund is processed and credited to the waitlisted passenger’s bank account after deducting clerkage charges as given in the table below. Waitlisted tickets bought over-the-counter have to be cancelled over- the- counter upto 30 minutes before train departure.
| Class | Clerkage charges deducted in rupees for RAC Waitlisted tickets |
| 1A/EC (AC First CLass / Executive Class) | 60 |
| 2A (AC 2 Tier Sleeper) | 60 |
| 3A (AC 3 Tier Sleeper) | 60 |
| CC (AC Chair Car) | 60 |
| FC (Non AC First Class) | 60 |
| SL (Non AC Sleeper) | 60 |
| 2S (IInd CLass Sitting) | 30 |
Types of Waitlisted (WL) tickets:
There are several types of waiting lists – GNWL, PQWL, RLWL,RSWL, RQWL and TQWL. A detailed explanation is provided in the table below.
| Waitlist type | Station From | Station To |
| GNWL General Waitlist | Origin/suburb of origin | Any other station |
| PQWL Pooled Quota waitlist | Quota pooled among manystations that is Origin /suburb of origin and nearby stations | Any other station |
| RLWL Remote location waitlist | Intermediate station usually a main town /city | Destination |
| RSWL Roadside station waitlist | Origin/suburb of origin | Intermediate station |
| RQWL Request waitlist (waitlist not covered under the above 4 categories) | Intermediate station | Intermediate station |
| TQWL Tatkal quota waitlist | Origin /suburb of origin /Intermediate station with tatkalquota | Station upto which Tatkal tickets booking allowed |
Very useful