PQWL

Clears slowly

Pooled Quota Waiting List

Passengers on short intermediate stretches, sharing one pooled quota across several segments of the route.

Why it moves, or does not

One small quota is shared by everyone travelling between intermediate points. It clears only when someone inside that pool cancels, and the pool is competing with itself.

What to do about it. Genuinely hard to clear. If your stretch also exists as a GNWL journey from the origin, booking that instead is usually the better move even at a higher number.

Decode your own status

Paste the full string from IRCTC, including both numbers if it has them.

Paste your booking status

Exactly as IRCTC shows it, for example GNWL 45/WL 12.

Clears slowlyPosition 12

PQWL

Pooled Quota Waiting List

Passengers on short intermediate stretches, sharing one pooled quota across several segments of the route.

Why it moves, or does not

One small quota is shared by everyone travelling between intermediate points. It clears only when someone inside that pool cancels, and the pool is competing with itself.

Genuinely hard to clear. If your stretch also exists as a GNWL journey from the origin, booking that instead is usually the better move even at a higher number.

No honest tool can give you a confirmation percentage from this string alone. That depends on the specific train, date and quota, which needs live charting data. What the code does tell you reliably is the size of the pool feeding your position, and that is what the guidance above is based on.

Read the full page on PQWL

The other codes

GNWL

Usually clears

General Waiting List

Passengers boarding at the train's originating station, or at a major station close to it.

RLWL

Clears slowly

Remote Location Waiting List

Passengers travelling between two intermediate stations, where an en-route station holds its own small quota.

RSWL

Rarely clears

Roadside Station Waiting List

Passengers boarding at a small roadside station along the route.

TQWL

Rarely clears

Tatkal Quota Waiting List

Passengers who booked under Tatkal and did not get a confirmed berth.

RLGN

Clears slowly

Remote Location General Waiting List

Passengers issued a remote-location ticket where that location's quota is administered as a general list.

RQWL

Clears slowly

Request Waiting List

Passengers whose origin-to-destination pair does not map onto any of the standard quotas, so the request is pooled separately.

RAC

You can board

Reservation Against Cancellation

Passengers just past the confirmed list when the quota ran out.

PQWL questions

What does PQWL mean in a train ticket?

PQWL stands for Pooled Quota Waiting List. Passengers on short intermediate stretches, sharing one pooled quota across several segments of the route.

Does PQWL get confirmed?

One small quota is shared by everyone travelling between intermediate points. It clears only when someone inside that pool cancels, and the pool is competing with itself. Genuinely hard to clear. If your stretch also exists as a GNWL journey from the origin, booking that instead is usually the better move even at a higher number.

What is the difference between PQWL and GNWL?

GNWL is fed by cancellations anywhere along the train's route, which makes it the largest pool and the most likely to clear. PQWL draws on a much narrower source, so the two numbers are not comparable — a low PQWL position can easily be worse than a much higher GNWL one.

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