Tech Talk
IRCTC App and Website Down, Users Vent Frustration Over Tatkal Booking Delays
The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) app and website experienced a major outage on Thursday morning, leaving countless passengers unable to book tickets. Frustrated users took to social media to voice their grievances, particularly over the inability to secure Tatkal tickets.
Widespread Outage Confirmed
According to Downdetector, a platform that monitors online outages, there was a significant spike in reports of the IRCTC outage. Users attempting to access the platform were met with an error message reading, “Unable to perform action due to maintenance activity.” As of now, IRCTC has not issued an official response addressing the disruption.
Public Outrage on Social Media
Disgruntled passengers flooded social media platforms, accusing IRCTC of failing to maintain reliable services. A user on X (formerly Twitter) wrote:
“@RailMinIndia @AshwiniVaishnaw @PMOIndia, why does the IRCTC website crash every day at 10 AM during Tatkal bookings? By the time it reopens, all Tatkal tickets are gone, leaving only premium tickets at double the price. This feels like a scam!”
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Another user added:
“It’s 10:11 AM, and IRCTC is still down. This needs to be investigated. By the time it starts working, all the tickets are already sold.”
Criticism continued, with one user sarcastically remarking:
“India has reached the moon, but the Indian Railways’ ticket booking app can’t handle Tatkal bookings without crashing. It’s 2024—stable servers shouldn’t be rocket science!”
Recurring Issues
This marks the second major outage for IRCTC this month. The platform previously underwent an hour-long maintenance on December 9. Today’s disruption has caused significant inconvenience to passengers trying to book Tatkal tickets, which are made available one day before a train’s departure. Booking opens at 10 AM for AC classes and 11 AM for non-AC classes.
Impact and Concerns
The outage has once again highlighted the need for robust and scalable systems to manage peak traffic on the IRCTC platform. With millions relying on the service for travel bookings, users are demanding accountability and improved infrastructure to prevent such repeated failures.
