Last week i had been to madurai to attend my collegue's wedding. I returned on 12/02, sunday. I have booked the 3-tier train ticket in kanyakumari express. I have booked it on 31/01. When i booked the ticket status was "PQ WL 1" (Pooled quota Wait list 1). I was sure that it would be confirmed. But, the status never changed even at the time i boarded the train. The preference is given to point-to-point passengers (kanyakumari - chennai). Thus the status of all other wait listed tickets never changed. Finally, i happen to travel in sleeper class coach without a seat.

Many budding politicians (40-50yrs of age) were travelling in the train. They were traveling to chennai to check the status of the file they nominated in their party to contest in assembly elections. The travel was fun watching them discussing the consequences of contesting in various places.

Note: If you booked a ticket with status "PQWL", the chances are very low to get confirmed. My advice for you is to look for alternate mode of transport. Alternatively, you can book a ticket from point-to-point, in the above case Kanyakumar to chennai. Sure, it will be wait listed. There may be chance it may be converted to RAC, but PQWL tickets *mostly* never change.