What to try when a train is sold out
A train that is waitlisted for your exact journey may still have a bookable ticket on a shorter or longer booking, from a nearby station, or as two tickets on the same train. RailRoute looks for those options on a search. Every one of them is an ordinary ticket you buy on IRCTC — not a guarantee, and not a booking made here.
Last reviewed . Figures on this page are measurements with the sample size and date stated beside them, not forecasts.
Options a search may show
- Split the ticket — two bookings on the same train, with a break at an intermediate station. Two tickets are usually dearer than one. If the second is not confirmed, you have a ticket that ends short of where you wanted to stop.
- Board from an earlier station — a ticket that starts a few stops before yours. You still board where you meant to, at your own risk if the berth is reallocated.
- Book through to a later station — a ticket that continues past where you get off. You pay for the extra distance.
- A nearby station or another terminal — another railhead in the same city, with the road between them counted as part of the journey.
What this is not
- Not a confirmation that a waitlist will clear.
- Not a reserved berth until IRCTC issues the ticket.
- RAC is a ticket that boards on a shared berth. It is not a confirmed berth, and it is not a waitlist.
Try it
Search a journey. Seat status itself is explained on the availability page.