Any railway station of India gives you a view of passengers strolling at the platform munching snacks, or someone with a luggage waiting for their Train, and vendors selling food items and RailNeer (Mineral water bottle) echoing in a loud-pitched voice. The T.T.E’s are seen carrying bunch of charts and other railway related papers. Passengers thronged around him are seen conversing a monologue like “Sir mera ticket confirm hua kya?” or “Sir mera kaun sa Seat hai?” etc, to which the TTE annoyingly replies “Chart Ban Jayega to Dekh Lijiyega”. After receiving such reply, passengers who are worried about their ticket confirmation view the TTE staff with extreme hatred and animosity.

Travelers who are waiting for their train to come can be seen checking their PNR status on regular intervals to know about their reservation status. As the train arrives they confirm their status again by looking at the chart pasted on the external wall of the train near the door. They take a sigh of relief with smile, if the name and seat appears in the chart, but never make an effort to know how this chart is prepared and what are the factors taken into consideration while prepare train charting. If the ticket is confirmed or the status is RAC, the passenger can order food online in train at any station they need. Avoid the distasteful pantry car food and order the food of their choice for a merrier journey.

What is a Train Chart?
A train chart is a confirmation or a record of all the passengers who are about to travel in that train scheduled for the destination station. 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.

“Chart is not prepared yet!” 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, after considering all the factors like quota seat placement, RAC adjustment, tatkal seat confirmation, etc, is not prepared. The final chart contains all the list of 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 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 traveler is legally not allowed to travel in the train. It is advised to cancel the ticket and get the refund after cancellation charges. Make sure you know the refund rules before heading to the counter. If your ticket is booked online, it will be automatically cancelled and the refund will be credited to your account within seven working days. Remember! Do not board the train. You will be liable for heavy penalty.

At what time the Final Chart is Prepared?
In general, the final 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. However there are some exceptions to it.

Final Charting for Morning Trains
There are many trains scheduled to depart from 12:00AM 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 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 chart for these trains are prepared before the closing time of the previous day which is 8 PM in the evening.

Is the Chart Prepared Four Hours before is the Final Chart?
Yes! The chart prepared is the final chart. Yet you should keep checking PNR status before 30 minutes of the departure of train. There are some confirmation probability for their tickets because railways have to adjust quota seats, tatkal seats, RAC adjustment or to manage the rush railways add extra coaches in the train through which there are high chances for the waitlist tickets to get a confirm berth. If your station is far away from the origin station the chart of that respective train can be made before 1 day from your date of journey. Sometimes you end up getting confused between the charts prepared for the respective trains if it’s a daily train when the station you are boarding is far away from the trains’ origin station. When you are checking the PNR status it is always considered to be mandatory to have a focus on the origin date, time and the station of the respective train.

IRCTC through its extensive services have made rail journey easy and comfortable. We have said a good-bye to the traditional approaches of journey planning and adopted the digital ways of managing and executing our journey. Thanks to the digital age! We at RailRestro are dedicated to serve hygienic and fresh food in the train journey. We are authorized partner of IRCTC. So when you are about to book tickets for your next journey, then check the chart for confirmation of seats and order your food in advance or during journey.

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