RAC

You can board

Reservation Against Cancellation

Passengers just past the confirmed list when the quota ran out.

Why it moves, or does not

Not a waiting list at all. You have a confirmed right to travel, sharing one side-lower berth with another RAC passenger, and you are upgraded to a full berth as confirmed passengers cancel.

What to do about it. You can board and you have a seat. Many RAC holders are given a full berth by charting or shortly after departure, so this is a position to accept rather than escape.

Decode your own status

Paste the full string from IRCTC, including both numbers if it has them.

Paste your booking status

Exactly as IRCTC shows it, for example GNWL 45/WL 12.

You can boardPosition 9 · moved up 12

RAC

Reservation Against Cancellation

Passengers just past the confirmed list when the quota ran out.

Why it moves, or does not

Not a waiting list at all. You have a confirmed right to travel, sharing one side-lower berth with another RAC passenger, and you are upgraded to a full berth as confirmed passengers cancel.

You can board and you have a seat. Many RAC holders are given a full berth by charting or shortly after departure, so this is a position to accept rather than escape.

Reading the two numbers

You were 21 in the queue when you booked and you are 9 now, so 12 places have cleared ahead of you. The second number is the live one; the first is only there to show the movement.

No honest tool can give you a confirmation percentage from this string alone. That depends on the specific train, date and quota, which needs live charting data. What the code does tell you reliably is the size of the pool feeding your position, and that is what the guidance above is based on.

Read the full page on RAC

The other codes

GNWL

Usually clears

General Waiting List

Passengers boarding at the train's originating station, or at a major station close to it.

RLWL

Clears slowly

Remote Location Waiting List

Passengers travelling between two intermediate stations, where an en-route station holds its own small quota.

PQWL

Clears slowly

Pooled Quota Waiting List

Passengers on short intermediate stretches, sharing one pooled quota across several segments of the route.

RSWL

Rarely clears

Roadside Station Waiting List

Passengers boarding at a small roadside station along the route.

TQWL

Rarely clears

Tatkal Quota Waiting List

Passengers who booked under Tatkal and did not get a confirmed berth.

RLGN

Clears slowly

Remote Location General Waiting List

Passengers issued a remote-location ticket where that location's quota is administered as a general list.

RQWL

Clears slowly

Request Waiting List

Passengers whose origin-to-destination pair does not map onto any of the standard quotas, so the request is pooled separately.

RAC questions

What does RAC mean in a train ticket?

RAC stands for Reservation Against Cancellation. Passengers just past the confirmed list when the quota ran out.

Does RAC get confirmed?

Not a waiting list at all. You have a confirmed right to travel, sharing one side-lower berth with another RAC passenger, and you are upgraded to a full berth as confirmed passengers cancel. You can board and you have a seat. Many RAC holders are given a full berth by charting or shortly after departure, so this is a position to accept rather than escape.

What is the difference between RAC and GNWL?

GNWL is fed by cancellations anywhere along the train's route, which makes it the largest pool and the most likely to clear. RAC draws on a much narrower source, so the two numbers are not comparable — a low RAC position can easily be worse than a much higher GNWL one.

Thinking about cancelling?

See what an RAC or waitlisted ticket actually refunds, and when it refunds itself.

Refund calculator