Any railway station in India gives you a view of passengers waiting for their train, and vendors selling food items and beverages. The T.T.Es are seen carrying a bunch of charts and other railway-related papers. You can also see passengers thronged around TTEs to ask about their ticket status.
Although the online PNR check let passengers know about their ticket status. But viewing their name on chart paper or confirmation from TTE satisfies the passenger about their journey status. NBut do you how this chart get prepared? If not, read on to know everything about train charting in Indian Railways.
Train Chart: An Overview
A train chart is a confirmation or a record of all the passengers who are about to travel in a particular train. The chart contains:
- Name of the Passenger
- Train number
- Coach number
- Seat/berth Number
- Name, Age, and Gender
The entire chart is pasted beside the doorway from where the passengers enter. If these details exist, the ticket or reservation is said to be confirmed or vice versa. The chart is also pasted on the board at platforms.
Indian Railway Chart Preparation Timings
In general, the chart is prepared exactly 4 hours before the scheduled time of departure of the train. One can start checking their reservation status four hours before the train time. Your coach number, seat number, and other details will be displayed on the screen. That’s the final status to follow. Although, the train charting for morning trains, evenings trains, and midnight trains are different.
- Final Charting for Morning Trains
There are many trains scheduled to depart from 12:00 AM in the midnight to 11 AM in the morning. In this case, the final charting is done by 8:00PM on the previous day. This is an exception to the rule. It is done to make the passengers available with the information of their tickets and reservation status in advance. IRCTC, through its newly introduced feature of “PNR Confirmation Probability” has made it easy for the passengers to estimate their ticket confirmation and decide accordingly whether to continue with the journey or not.
- Final Charting for Evening Trains
For evening trains, rules remain the same. The final chart is prepared 3-4 hours before the departure time of the train. One can easily check the PNR number and make sure about their journey details.
- Final Charting of Midnight Trains
Final train charting is done before the closing time of the previous day which is 8 PM in the evening. Apart before 30 minutes of scheduled departure of the train, the final train chart is prepared. If you will be lucky enough, you might get the confirm ticket in this stage.
“Chart Not Prepared” What Does This Message Mean?
Every passenger is allotted with a PNR number which has to be regularly checked for correct journey details and ticket status. Whenever a passenger enters a PNR number in the online portal, he/she might get the message “Chart is Not Prepared Yet”. This means the final chart is not prepared after considering all the factors like quota seat placement, RAC adjustment, tatkal seat confirmation, etc. The final chart contains the list of all passengers to travel in a particular train which is finalised 4 hours before the departure of the train. Once the final chart is prepared and your train number, coach number, berth number will be displayed on the screen in case of confirm and RAC tickets. Passengers won’t be getting this message when their tickets are already confirmed.
Can Anyone Travel With a Waitlist Ticket after Chart Preparation?
The simple answer to the question is NO! If the status still shows WL or waitlist after the chart preparation, then the concerned traveller is legally not allowed to travel in the train. As the waitlist ticket automatically get cancellled, if it is booked online. However, with counter waitlist ticket, you can travel by train but will need to talk to onboard TTE or check vacant seat online, and get confirm ticket after chart preparation.
How Can I Book Train Ticket Online After Chart Preparation?
4 hours before the scheduled departure of the train from the source station, you can check vacant seat availability online. To check and book the ticket after chart preparation, follow these steps:
- Visit the IRCTC website or the rail connect app.
- Click on ‘Chart Vacancy’. A new page will get open.
- Enter the train number, journey date, and boarding station.
- The vacant seat list will get open with different travel classes.
- Click on the class to see the berth number/coach number.
- Click on the train icon to book the ticket.
After booking the ticket, you can book your train meal online. RailRestro, a train food app allows you to order varieties including veg, non-veg, Jain, regional food on train. The food company is dedicated to ensure hygienic and fresh food delivery in train.