All of us have travelled with the Indian Railways at least once and been in many situations that arise before the departure. We wish to know the PNR Status of our ticket if it is in Waitlist or RAC, when would a Train arrive or about its Departure Enquiry and what not.
We do know that Railway has a centralized call centre for all our queries but sometimes we may not prefer to make any calls and wish that our query be solved by an SMS. And so thinking about the convenience of user, Indian Railway has listed the SMS Codes using which users can make use of multiple services by just sending an SMS.
Codes for different SMS based Railway enquiries:
For ticket status Enquiry:
- SMS: PNR <10 Digit PNR Number> to 139
- For example: PNR 4341568666
For Train Arrival/Departure Enquiry:
- SMS: AD <Train number> <STD code of Station>
- For example: AD 12012 011
For Accommodation availability:
- SMS: SEAT <Train number> <DOJ ddmmyy> <Station from: STD code> <station to: STD code> <class> <Quota>
- For example SEAT 12561 010712 0542 0571 SL G
Fare enquiry:
- SMS: FARE <Train number> < DOJ ddmmyy> <Station from: STD code> <station to: STD code> <class> <Quota>
- For Example: FARE 12561 010712 0542 0571 SL G
Time table:
- SMS: TIME <train number>
- For example: TIME 12561
Spot/ Locate train:
- SMS: SPOT <train number> or LOCATE <train number>
- For example: SPOT 12561 or LOCATE 12561
Train Name/Number:
- SMS: TN <train number> or SMS: TN <train name>
- For Example TN 12724 or TN AP EXPRESS
Also for getting all the syntaxes mentioned, SMS HELP or RAIL to 139
Please Note:
- Quota is optional field. For example, please enter G for general, CK for Tatkal.
- For CLASS field, please enter 1A for First AC, 2A for Second AC, 3A for third AC, SL for Sleeper, CC for AC Chair Car, 2S for Second Sitting
- The service is also available on USSD for Reliance, Uninor, Tata DoCoMo and Vodafone Telephone Service Providers. Just dial *139# to avail the USSD facility for enquiry of PNR, Arrival/Departure etc.
You will be charged Rs. 1 – Rs. 3 per SMS depending upon your telecom operator.
We hope that these codes are helpful to you and don’t forget to share this article with your friends and family as it might be useful to them also.