Difinition of PNR
A PNR is an abbreviated form of Passenger Name Record (PNR) in the
travel Industry. It is a record of the itinerary for a passenger or group of
passengers (travelling together) in the database of a Computer Reservation
System (CRS).
A PNR status is widely used term in the travel industry
including railways and airlines industry. The PNR was initially introduced by
airlines for exchanging reservation information in case of passengers who
require flights of multiple airlines to complete their journey. The standards
for interline messaging of PNR is defined by IATA and ATA.
The introduction of PNRs was originally intended for air travel.
However, its usage has now spread across the bookings of railways tickets,
hotels, tours, car rentals, etc.
Indian Railways PNR
Indian Railways issues a 10
digit number written on the top left corner of the ticket in combination of
digits and characters. This is known as Passenger
Name Record abbreviated
as PNR. It is an important number which keeps the record of the travelers in
the database of Computer Reservation System (CRS). This number could be used to find the latest reservation
status on the Indian Railways website free of charge. Train
reservation list is being updated 24*7 in a
real time manner in the database. Indian
Railway website also provides various other means of finding
booking state by SMS or
by Rail Phone.
Alternative Methods to Find PNR Status
Apart from using IRCTC
website for finding PNR status, one could also check his reservation
status through SMS. While
seeking information on PNR status, one simply has to write PNR (give space)
(type PNR number) and SMS to 139. The benefit of the SMS service is that
passengers can access information even on the move, the official said for
instance, if a passenger wants information about his train running behind
schedule and the expected arrival at the destination, he can type the station
code or station name along with his train number and SMS to 139.