PNR Number of Indian Railways

Breaking Down The PNR Number of Indian Railways: What, How, Why?

Ever wondered how the 10 digit PNR number you get from IRCTC – Indian Railways ticket is generated? Or what do the digits indicate? What is PNR? or What is PNR’s meaning? Or basically why do we even need PNR?

I had the same set of questions. I Googled extensively and tried to find the answers. Learnt many new things about the railway reservation system. Read along to boost your knowledge too…


PNR FAQs

  1. What is PNR? What is PNR full form? What is PNR in railways?
    PNR: Passenger Name Record

     


  2. What is meaning of PNR? Why it is used?
    PNR simply means an entry in the database of your airline/railway/travel agency to store travel information of a passenger or group of passengers.

     

    PNR is used to keep track of travel itinerary in computer records.


  3. What is PNR Number?
    It is a unique identifier to point to the PNR record in the database.

     


  4. How do I check PNR status?
    It depends on your travel agency.
    A Google search is the fastest way to get PNR status of your ticket. A simple search such as “Indian Railways PNR status” or “Emirates PNR status” would do.

     


  5. What is booking reference and is it same as PNR?
    Booking reference is prominently used in air travel and in most cases, yes, it serves the same role as PNR.

     


  6. What is PNR in train/Indian railways?
    Please go through rest of the article below. It should give you an idea.

  7. PNR History?
    Although PNRs were originally introduced for air travel airlines systems, they can also be used for bookings of hotels, car rental, airport transfers, and train trips.

The PNR – Passenger Name Record: It’s Meaning and Status In Journey

In the airline and travel industries, a passenger name record (PNR) is a record in the database of a computer reservation system (CRS) that has the itinerary for a passenger, or a group of passengers travelling together. The concept of a PNR was first introduced by airlines that needed to exchange reservation information in case passengers required flights of multiple airlines to reach their destination (‘interlining’).

Talking in the context of Indian Railways, PNR number is a unique pointer to a record in the railway database. The record pointed by PNR contains comprehensive journey details. The details may include:

  • Passenger Details (Name, Age, Sex, Birth Preference)
  • Ticket Details (Train No, Date, From, To, Boarding Station, Reservation Upto, Class, Birth, Quota)
  • Transaction / Payment Details (Transaction ID, Payment Mode, Ticket Charge)

The Story Of 10 Digits

Now that we know about what the PNR is and why it’s used, let’s go further and break down the specifics.

First 3 Digits

[Update November 2018]

As per comment by Mr Murthy RN,

“I feel it is not correct presumption that the second and third digit indicate the PRS Centre, as I found the number (2nd and 3rd digits) varying too much in tickets issued from the same counter of a PRS Centre.”

So please take the following information with a grain of salt.


They tell us from which PRS the ticket has been booked. (PRS: Passenger Reservation System. Developed by CRIS, PRS is a total networking solution to Indian Railways Passenger Reservation System.)

The PNR numbers’ starting digit does not depend on the PRS from which it has been booked.

Following block is based on comment made by Aloke, thanks! https://darpan.blog/travel/breaking-down-the-pnr-number-of-indian-railways-what-how-why/#comment-19301

The first digit of the PNR is simply based on the PRS node that handles the train – i.e. the PRS node that the originating station of the train falls under.

There are only four digits that a train PNR starts with:
2 – for trains handled by the northern PRS node (Delhi)
4 – for trains handled by the southern PRS node (Chennai)
6 – for trains handled by the eastern PRS node (Kolkata)
8 – for trains handled by the western PRS node (Mumbai)

Last 7 Digits

They are randomly generated numbers using the Rand() function. They represent no information about the ticket or journey. This is done to make the PNR number unique.

One can check status of PNR number of http://www.indianrail.gov.in website. Also at every major stations, PNR stats checking counters are available.


Passanger name record number lasts minimum 9 month as the TDR filed can take maximum of 9 months. It then flushed out from the database.

(Normally) The digits of PNR become meaningless. However, PNR details may not be available for the general public once the journey gets over for privacy and security concerns of passengers.

How to Check Status of PNR Number

Indian Railways maintains PNR as the single point of transaction. IRCTC updates PNR status as and when required. For instance, when your ticket gets confirmed. You can also check PNR status.


So, next time when you book a ticket, have a glance at the first digit. And yes, you’re a pro Indian Railways traveler now! 🙂

Enjoyed reading? Have more information? Share your thoughts in the comments. Spread this post to illuminate others..


Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_name_record
http://www.indianrail.gov.in
http://indiarailinfo.com/faq/post/regional-prs-centre-with-zone-and-pnr-starting-digit/1145
http://indiarailinfo.com/faq/post/1787


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Comments

33 responses to “Breaking Down The PNR Number of Indian Railways: What, How, Why?”

  1. Aloke Avatar
    Aloke

    Good effort but unfortunately there is a lot of incorrect information on PNR numbering logic in this post.

    The first digit of the PNR is simply based on the PRS node that handles the train – i.e. the PRS node that the originating station of the train falls under.

    There are only four digits that a train PNR starts with:
    2 – for trains handled by the northern PRS node (Delhi)
    4 – for trains handled by the southern PRS node (Chennai)
    6 – for trains handled by the eastern PRS node (Kolkata)
    8 – for trains handled by the western PRS node (Mumbai)

    You’ve correctly identified which railway zones fall under which PRS node (though KR needs to be added to the southern PRS node). Secunderabad used to be a separate PRS node with its own starting digit (1) but that has not been the case for a long time now. Trains originating from the Hyderabad region (Secunderabad/Kacheguda/Hyderabad) now fall under the Chennai PRS node and PNRs for trains originating there will start with the digit 4.

    Long-distance trains will usually be controlled by different PRS nodes for the up and down direction. For example, a PNR on the Bangalore – Delhi Karnataka Express will start with the digit 4 (as Bangalore falls under the Chennai PRS node), but a PNR for the returning Delhi – Bangalore service will start with the digit 2 (as this train starts from Delhi).

    NO PNRs start with the digits 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9. I have travelled extensively across the Indian railway network in the past 5-6 years, using trains operated by almost every zone, keep a record of my tickets, and have never come across any PNR starting with these digits. I am not sure where you have received this information from but it is conjecture and is incorrect.

    Similarly, the 2nd and 3rd digit are not a record of the zone/city of the originating train. It is easy enough to check this by using the advanced PNR search function on Indiarailinfo where the first 3 digits of the PNR are visible and the remaining are masked. If you check for trains starting from Hyderabad/Secunderabad/Kacheguda, you will see a very wide range of starting digits: 410, 431, 451, 452, 453, 481, 482 etc. You can see the same digits for tickets from trains originating at Chennai, Ernakulam, Bangalore etc.

    Again, you can use Indiarailinfo’s PNR search feature to verify these points. You will not find any PNRs starting with an odd-numbered digit and there is no geographical pattern to the second/third digits of a PNR.

    1. Darpan Avatar

      Thanks a lot for taking time to write yo such a detailed information.

      I apologies for the outdated and incorrect content in here. I have written this post initially in 2015 or so when I was naive and haven’t really looked back at it.

      I will work on to update it with the new information you’ve provided in here. Thanks again.

  2. Amol Avatar
    Amol

    Is there any validation rule for PNR no? I mean, is there a check digit to see whether a PNR is correct (as in Modulus-11 method and Luhn Algorithm)?
    Thanks…..

    1. Darpan Dodiya Avatar

      None that I know of..

  3. Atul kumar Avatar
    Atul kumar

    Good information, Keep it Up
    You did a great job

  4. Gaurav Tripathi Avatar

    Good information, Keep it Up
    can visit https://www.erailinfo.in/ for Live Pnr Status

  5. Murthy RN Avatar
    Murthy RN

    Dear Darpan,

    You have made a very good attempt to give information to people curious to know as to how the PNR number is generated.
    I feel it is not correct presumption that the second and third digit indicate the PRS Centre, as i found the number (2nd and 3rd digits) varying too much in tickets issued from the same counter of a PRS Centre.
    I just making it clear, and the idea is not to find fault.
    Please continue to good work.

    1. Darpan Dodiya Avatar

      Hello Mr Murthy,

      Thank you very much for the information.

      I will update the post with your observations added.

  6. Raju. Avatar
    Raju.

    12378 padatik express date of journey 14/02/2018 at NJP name Raju.

    1. Darpan Dodiya Avatar

      Sorry, didn’t get you.

  7. Manohar Patel Avatar
    Manohar Patel

    Very useful information Thxs

  8. Sanil Avatar
    Sanil

    Nice Information, very useful. Should be share to more people so everybody will know about it

    1. Darpan Dodiya Avatar

      Thanks a bunch Sanil. Happy to hear that 🙂

  9. MANIGANDAN D Avatar
    MANIGANDAN D

    On the ticket it should be printed on data’s are one line that means no view of any details of me.so,pls forward of my ticket random number because of modification of ticket..
    Pnr no :4750619783

    1. Darpan Dodiya Avatar
      Darpan Dodiya

      Hi,

      I couldn’t understand your question about PNR number. Would you please mind to rephrase your question?

  10. Jitendra Kumar Gupta Avatar
    Jitendra Kumar Gupta

    My pnr no. 2710730613 passenger name details pls 2 name match nahi Kar rahe he pls help me

    1. Darpan Dodiya Avatar
      Darpan Dodiya

      Hello Jitendra,

      This article is about what is PNR number and how it is generated. I can’t help you with your query.

  11. Sanju Rana Avatar
    Sanju Rana

    how to make reservation from bhuj city to amritsar

    1. Darpan Dodiya Avatar
      Darpan Dodiya

      Hello Sanju, thanks for your query about reservation.

      You can do the reservation via visiting IRCTC website: https://irctc.co.in

  12. Sunil Avatar
    Sunil

    I have booked a ticket from the rly counter . The PNR No cited in it is not legible. I sit possible to get the confirmatioin through the ticket no cited in the ticket

    1. Darpan Dodiya Avatar

      I’m no expert at this, but I think without PNR number you’ll not be able to trace.

  13. Akhil Kumar Saxena Avatar
    Akhil Kumar Saxena

    Thanks Darpan

  14. Satish Khemani Avatar
    Satish Khemani

    Please let me know when can I know that my ticket is confirm or not?
    I have booked ticket and having PNR number but If I did’t get cornfirm ticket then I have to book from bus, so when I will know about confirming so that I can plan further jurney.
    FYI please, there is showing “W/L 1,PQWL” as PNR status, and also I want to know that will I get SMS from Railway for confirming ticket.

  15. ashish Avatar
    ashish

    can i guess the pnr no. by knowing the seat and coach details

    1. Darpan Dodiya Avatar

      No, I don’t think so.

  16. K Govind Raj Avatar
    K Govind Raj

    Thanks for clearing my doubt/s.

    1. Darpan Dodiya Avatar

      Glad to help you!

  17. Manas Avatar
    Manas

    Thanks for such nice information.
    Keep updating more on Indian Railway.

    1. Darpan Dodiya Avatar

      Thank you Manas! 🙂

  18. www.irctcpnrstatuscheck.net Avatar
    www.irctcpnrstatuscheck.net

    Your way of explaining the whole thing in this article
    is really pleasant, every one be able to easily know it, Thanks a lot.

  19. Bhavya Gandhi Avatar
    Bhavya Gandhi

    Wow !! Amazing to know about this hidden fact of PNR . Keep unlocking the secrets !!

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