MY ARTICLE ON RAILWAY TICKET BOOKING:
This article was written by me for my college Magazine.

BOOK EASY, TRAVEL COMFY- GUIDE FOR BOOKING RAIL TICKETS IN INDIA
I think most of us would...
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have traveled by trains and will do so in future. But how many of us book tickets in advance? In most of the cases we plan at a short notice and try to book tickets. By the time we book the tickets we end up with a waiting list ticket. We get these tickets with a hope that it would get confirmed. Few tickets might confirm very easily while few confirm at the last minute making us to check for the status every now and then and look for alternatives. Few surprise us at the last minute with a confirmation or at least to an up-gradation to RAC but few bring us a shock as they remain in waiting list even after charting. A wise decision at the selection of the class and the train will help us more to get a confirmed reservation. A look into the quotas and a rough idea of the allocation of quotas in a specific train will greatly help us in getting us a confirmed seat and make our travel easy.

Trains have a variety of quotas namely General quota,Tatkal Quota, Pooled quota, Roadside quota, Remote location quota, Ladies quota, Senior citizen quota, Lower Berth quota, Physically handicapped quota, Higher Official quota, Defense quota, Foreign Tourist quota, etc. How many of us have an idea of how these quotas play a role in our ticket confirmation?

Let me tell you few things which I know about the role of these quotas in making our ticket confirm and make our travel easier. Let us first have a look on the major quotas that are open for the normal public. Then let me tell you how these quotas play a role in getting tickets.

These quotas are denoted by the two letter codes when you check for accommodation. A General Quota waiting list ticket will be denoted as GNWL 3/1. Here the first number denotes the original waiting number and the second one denotes the current status of your ticket.

GENERAL QUOTA: This quota is for end to end travelers. This quota has the maximum number of seats allotted. Travel from stations close to the origin point of the train or to the stations close to the end point of the train are also allotted seat in this quota. This quota has got RAC too. The general rule for confirmation is from Waiting list to RAC to Confirmation.

POOLED QUOTA: This quota is generally for travel between origin to intermediate stations or from intermediate to the final station or between intermediate stations. This quota has got very few seats allotted, sometimes even in single digits. This is the most complex of all the quotas. Though the waiting numbers are in sequence confirmation is not in sequence. This is for the simple reason that waiting numbers are given continuously but the allocation of seats is purely based on availability for a particular leg of the journey.

Consider a train running from A to D. B and C are intermediate stations. Pooled quota is the combination of seats allotted for travel between A to B, A to C, B to C, B to D and C to D. Though there are different combinations of journey legs there is only one quota for these legs. Hence all these legs will have to compete for the same set of seats. The demand for a particular leg (say A to C) is not the same as the other (say C to D). It might be more or might be less. When a person books from A to C he might get waiting list (say the person gets PQWL 1) if all seats are over and later when a person books from B to C he gets PQWL 2, but when a person books even later between C to D he might get confirmed ticket as most of the bookings would be for A to C or B to C. Confirmation is also based on the cancellations in a particular leg.

Is it very confusing? Leave it… In simple, pooled quota is the most complicated quota and the chance of confirmation highly depends on your train, on your journey leg, and most importantly your luck. It is also influenced by the bookings in other quotas. Go for pooled quota unless or until you have no better option. But one piece of interesting information is that there is no RAC under this quota. It is either waiting list or confirmation.

REMOTE LOCATION QUOTA: Remote quota shares seats with the General quota. It is generally allotted to major places enroute which has got good potential or demand. Though seats allotted to this quota is not as big as the general quota the remote quota has a good number of seats. Generally places lying very close to the major station enroute are also clubbed together along with the major sation to form the remote quota. This generally involves travel from these places to end stations or from the origin to these stations. The order of confirmation is Wailting list to RAC to Confirmation.

Roadside quota is the same as that of remote quota but the exception is that the major place en route will not share seats with other locations nearby. Generally this is available only in the case of Rajdhani Expresses while there are also exceptions.

Ladies quota is a quota allotted to ladies and male children below twelve years in the lowest reserved class available. So if the criteria match you never forget to check for seats under ladies quota if you don’t get a confirmed seat.

Tatkal quota, as you all know is basically for last minute travelers. About 30 percent of the total accommodation in all the classes of the train is reserved for tatkal quota apart from AC first class, Executive Chair car and the First class.

The other quotas are generally not open for public booking so let us not discuss about them.

SOME GUIDELINES TO BOOK TICKETS:
* Book tickets in trains that provides you seats under general quota for easy movement of waiting list.
* If you feel the general waiting list is too high or the train offering general waiting list doesn’t suit you, go for trains that offer you tickets in remote quota or Road side quota. They have good chance of confirmation.
* If the above said quotas don’t suit your requirements go for pooled quota.
* Go for pooled quota if the waiting list number is less and if the demand in your journey leg is less. The large waiting list numbers under this quota will generally reflect the demand between the major legs.
*If booking under pooled quota choose trains which do not attract large number of end to end travelers.
*Trains which are less preferred have high number of cancellations. Hence booking in such trains increase the chance of confirmation.
* When you book tickets under tatkal quota prefer trains that are less popular or less preferred. The chance of getting tickets is more in such trains.
* Tatkal quota starts one day in advance from the departure time of the journey originating station. If the train arrives at your place the following day remember to book two days in advance. IRCTC will not show the option for booking for such cases so go for counter booking. This is inapplicable when the place of commencement of journey has got its own tatkal quota.
*Incase if your station falls under Pooled quota and shows waiting list then immediately check for the status from train originating station, if available book tickets from that place and later change the boarding point to your station. You will have to do this in PRS counters at least twenty four hours before the departure of the train. While doing this you may have to forgo the difference in fare.

PREFERENCE FOR SEAT ALLOCATION OF DIFFERENT QUOTAS UNDER UN-USED QUOTAS:
There are many quotas like Higher Official quota, defense quota, etc where the earmarked seats do not get filled or when an extra coach is allotted to clear extra rush the unused seats are released to other quotas. In such cases there is a preference of quotas followed to allot seats. Tatkal waiting list clearance has got more preference over all other waiting lists.

The order of preference is:
Tatkal, General, Remote/Roadside, Pooled.

I think now you are pretty clear about the various quotas and the role played by them in confirming your tickets. Consider these aspects next time when you book the tickets.
Happy journey!!!