Many of us have gone through this situation while booking a railway ticket. When we do not get a confirm ticket railway provides us a waiting list, we are confused with waiting list number in most of the time. There are different types of waiting list based on the waiting list number, however, we assume all the waiting list as same. 

Because of lack of knowledge, we end up taking a wrong waiting list number which has very rare chances of ticket confirmation.

Let me explain you one by one with the help of an example.

GNWL: General waiting list number. When your boarding point and destination point is same as the train's source and destination then GNWL waiting list is given. This waiting list has the highest number of quota. This waiting list has highest chances of confirmation of ticket 

Let's take an example: Chetak Express runs between Udaipur and Delhi railway station. 

Source station is Udaipur and Destination is Delhi. If you book a ticket for the journey between Udaipur to Delhi you would get GNWL waiting list. Let say you get a ticket like GNWL50/ WL30.

What is the meaning of waiting list number  GNWL50/ WL30?

It means that when the waiting started there were 50  passengers in the queue. Waiting list number at the start was 50. At the time of booking, waiting list number is 30 which mean 50-30 =20, 20 people have either canceled their ticket or got RAC or confirm ticket.

When would your Ticket GNWL50/ WL30? get confirm.

There are 29 people before you when 29 people will cancel their ticket or they get RAC or Confirm ticket then you would be moved to RAC or Confirm quota.

RMWL: Remote location Waiting List. 

When your boarding point is a major station between the source station and destination station then you would get RMWL waiting. There are some big stations between source and destination where many passengers board or get down these stations are known as the remote location. RMWL has less quota as compared to GNWL.

Chetak express which has source Udaipur and Destination Delhi goes via Kota. Kota would a remote location in case of Chetak express. If you book a ticket between Udaipur to Kota or Kota to Delhi you would get RMWL waiting list.

PQWL: Pooled quota waiting list  

When your destination station is a couple of station before the last destination of the train then you would get PQWL waiting list. 

Chetak express which has  Source Udaipur and Destination Delhi. if you book the ticket in Chetak expresses from Udaipur to Narela, Narela is a couple of station before Delhi you would get PQWL waiting list. 

PQWL has the lower quota as compared to RMWL. There are very fewer chances of getting ticket confirmation in this quota.

What is best practice followed while booking a ticket in the Waiting list? 

As we know that GNWL waiting list has the highest chance of getting a confirm ticket. you should give first priority to the train where you are getting GNWL.  You should prefer to book waiting in the train which has the same source and destination station as your boarding and dropping station. You should avoid booking in a train which is not originating from your boarding station.

Please watch this video for to understand Railway Waiting list.