How train PNR is generated

PNR stands for Passenger Name Record, and it is a ten-digit number automatically generated by the system after your ticket is booked.PNR number can be found on the upper left corner of the booked railway ticket. The railway systems are known as CRS also known as Central Reservation System.

How PNR Generated?

All you need to do is fill the details and submit the form either online or by filling a reservation form at railway station. The reservation is done after you provide valid details like name of the the passenger, type of berth, gender, age, etc. Once the reservation is done, then CRS will automatically issue a PNR number for your ticket.

Checking PNR Status

You can order food to your seat by telling your PNR number, you can book rooms and dorms available at cheaper price on railway stations. While there are many ways to check your PNR status which tells you about your current booking details. You can check your PNR status either from official website of IRCTC or its twin website of Indian Railways.All you have to do is to go to ‘PNR Status’ option, enter your 10-digit PNR number and within a blink of eye you get to know the details.

There are also various mobile apps available on all the leading operating system platforms of smartphones. Keeping in mind the young generation, the official app from IRCTC gives you your PNR status with just a few taps but more than half of the population of India is yet to come on the internet and they travel by train, what about them? How do they check their PNR status in case their seat is not confirmed?

The simple answer is through PNR status in and way.Yes, this is possible with the sms services provided by the Indian Railways. This way of checking the PNR status is easiest of all the methods. All you have to do is to SMS a few keywords. Send to 139 or 57886, 5676747 with “PNR <10-digit PNR>” in the sms, and within a few minutes, you will receive a sms on your mobile containing your PNR status in detail. Also, if you have a prolonged journey with back to back trains and you don’t have a proper internet network, you can check your PNR status through sms just by following the above mentioned steps. You can also check your PNR status through various other web services, which provide your PNR status via sms on your phone with some cost. Many of them provide these services free of cost though. It surely couldn’t have got easier than this.

I hope this article will be more helpful with useful information.Comments are welcome from your side.Let we discuss on another article.

Can waiting list (WL) be confirmed

All the tickets issued have a unique 10-digit PNR which you should quote for any correspondence regarding your ticket. The ticket also contains all the other journey details like train number, journey date, travel class, origin, destination, ticket status, berth details for confirmed tickets, passenger details etc.

Maximum of six passengers can travel through one ticket. But just having a ticket does not guarantee that your journey is confirmed. All the passengers in a ticket are assigned a ticket status which can be waiting (WL), RAC (a half berth), or confirmed (full berth).These are explained below in detail.

Waiting List (WL): 

If the passenger status is marked as WL followed by a number then the passenger has a waitlisted status. This can get confirm only if the passengers who have booked before you for the same journey cancel their ticket. For example if the status is GNWL 4 / WL 3 , then this means that you have a waiting list of 3 (the latter number) and your ticket will get confirmed only if 3 passengers who have booked before you for the same journey happen to cancel their journey. Similarly, GNWL/AVAILABLE means that current status of your ticket is CONFIRMED because some passengers who booked before you have cancelled their tickets. This status also gives some insight into the current ticket cancellation trends for this journey. Waiting list can be of various types:

GNWL :

General Waiting List (GNWL) waitlisted tickets are issued when the passenger begins his/her journey at the originating station of a route or stations close to the originating station. This is most common type of waiting list and has got the highest chances of confirmation.

RLWL:

Remote Location Waiting List (RLWL) means ticket is issued for intermediate stations (between the originating and terminating stations) because usually these are the most important towns or cities on that particular route. This type of tickets will be given a separate priority and confirmations will depend on the cancellations of a destination confirmed ticket. Remote location stations prepare there own chart 2-3 hours before the actual departure of train. For this type of ticket there are less chances of confirmation.

PQWL :

A Pooled Quota Waiting List (PQWL) is shared by several small stations. Pooled Quotas normally operate only from the originating station of a route, and there is only one Pooled Quota for the entire run. The Pooled Quota is generally allotted for passengers travelling from the originating station to a station short of the terminating station, or from an intermediate station to the terminating station, or between two intermediate stations.

RLGN: 

Remote Location General Waiting List (RLGN) is issued when a user books a ticket where WL quota is RLWL. This means after ticket booking RLWL gets named as RLGN.

RSWL:

Roadside Station Waiting List (RSWL) is allotted when berths or seats are booked by the originating station for journeys up to the road-side station and distance restrictions may not apply. This waiting list has also very less chances of confirmation.

RQWL:

If a ticket is to be booked from an intermediate station to another intermediate station, and if it is not covered by the general quota or by the remote location quotas or pooled quota, the request for the ticket may go into a Request Waiting List (RQWL).

TQWL(formerly CKWL):

For tatkal tickets, the waiting list issued used to be CKWL which has been changed to TQWL by the Indian Railways since December 2016. If tatkal ticket goes up, it directly gets confirmed and doesn’t go through RAC status unlike GNWL. During chart preparation, general waiting list (GNWL) is preferred over tatkal waiting list (TQWL) therefore tatkal waitlisted tickets are less likely to get confirmed. Follow these steps to get a confirmed tatkal ticket.

Confirmed (CNF):

In this case the passenger gets a full berth for the journey. In case of first AC (1A), the passenger may not get berth details even for confirmed ticket when ticket is issued. This is because the berth allotment for this class is done manually by the TTE on chart preparation.

I hope this article will be more helpful in booking train ticket.Let we see on another article.Your comments are welcome.

New NPS benefits for central government employee

• NPS: In Budget 2019, some exclusive benefits for central government employees were announced.

• However, the higher income tax exemption on withdrawal from NPS will be available for other subscribers alsoUnion Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Budget 2019 proposed many changes to the income tax rules governing investment and withdrawal in retirement pension scheme NPS, though some of them were approved by the Union Cabinet last year. 

• The finance minister increased the income tax exemption limit on withdrawal from NPS while also announced some additional tax benefits for central government employees who contribute towards the retirement scheme. Tax experts have welcomed the higher exemption limit on NPS but said that some the proposed tax benefits for central government employees should be also extended to other sections of the society.

These amendments will take effect from assessment year 2020-21. Some of the changes proposed to NPS are based on 7th Pay Commission.

“The government had made certain announcements in December 2018 in relation to NPS, wherein it raised its contribution to Tier I account for its employees from 10% to 14% and also announced that the tax benefit to such employees in respect of their own contribution to Tier II account will be available u/s 80C with a lock-in period of 3 years. The Finance Minister has proposed the changes in the Budget to implement theannouncements. Further, the exemption of lump sum payment from NPS upon retirement is proposed to be raised from 40% to 60%, as also announced earlier," said Kuldip Kumar, Partner & Leader, Personal Tax, PwC India.

NPS rule changes proposed in Budget:

1) Currently, upon retirement, an individual can withdraw a lump-sum of up to 60% of the NPS corpus fund and balance 40% has to be invested in an annuity plan. But only 40% of the corpus fund withdrawn is tax-exempt and 20% is taxable in the hands of the taxpayer.

The finance minister has now proposed to raise the income tax exemption limit from 40% to 60% of the NPS corpus, effectively making the entire withdrawal exempt from income tax. This benefit will also be available to all NPS subscribers.

2) The Union Cabinet had last year approved increasing the contribution to Tier I account for central government employees from 10% to 14%, a move that benefits approximately 18 lakh central government employees covered under NPS. The new entrants to the central government service on or after 1st January are covered under the National Pension System (NPS). The mandatory contribution of central government employees will remain as 10% of basic salary.

In this connection, the Budget proposed amending Section 80CCD(2) of the Income Tax Act to allow exemption of employer contribution up to 14% of the salary of central government employees.

Section 80 CCD (2) applies to when an employer is contributing towards the NPS of an employee. This benefit is in addition to the deduction of₹1.5 lakh under Section 80C and also an additional deduction benefit of ₹50,000 under Section 80 CCD towards investment in NPS.

Tax experts say that this benefit should have been extended to private sector employees too. “Frankly, Section 80C is already crowded and limit has not been enhanced. So it would have been better to allow private sector employees the enhanced 14% employer contribution (instead of 10%). That would have helped save more tax," says Archit Gupta, founder and CEO of ClearTax.com.

3) In another benefit for central government employees, the Budget proposed that contributions made to Tier-II NPS account will become eligible for deductions under Section 80C, if the amount is locked-in for a minimum of three years.

NPS has two accounts—Tier 1 account or the retirement account which is mandatory. The Tier 2 account is an optional account and comes with withdrawal flexibility.

Quota Codes & Meaning In Railways

In this article we are going to see about quota codes and meaning in Indian Railways for train ticket booking.This article will clearly explain about the quota codes.

Indian Railways provide 12 different types of quotas in the ticket reservation offered such as General, Ladies, Tatkal, Senior Citizen etc for their customers all over India.

Below is the list of various Quota Codes and their meanings.

Code	Description
GN	General Quota
CK	Tatkal Quota
PT	Premium Tatkal Quota
RC(RAC)	Reservation Against Cancellation
LB	Lower Berth
PQ	Pooled Quota
OS	Out Station
RS	Road Side
GNRS	General Quota Road Side
LD	Ladies Quota
SS	Female(above 45 Year)/Senior Citizen/Travelling alone
HP	Physically Handicapped Quota
YU	Yuva
HO	Head quarters/high official Quota
DF	Defence Quota
PH	Parliament house Quota
FT	Foreign Tourist Quota
DP	Duty Pass Quota
RE	Railway Employee Staff on Duty for the train

I hope this article will be more helpful to find the quota while you are booking ticket.In the next article we will briefly see the each quota in detail.Let we see on another interesting article.Comments are welcome comment us on below comment section.