Indian Railways’ E-ticketing System Crashes

IRCTC Site Crashes

Indian Railways’ online ticketing platform, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), was momentarily offline on Thursday, December 26. Due to maintenance, the IRCTC mobile app and website both went offline. “Due to maintenance activity, e-ticketing service will not be available at present. Please try later, read the notice on the IRCTC website.

Passengers across the country have experienced severe inconvenience as a result of this unplanned outage. It’s worth noting that millions of passengers book their train tickets every day, thanks to the essential IRCTC service. The disruption has caused difficulty, especially for travellers intending to book Tatkal tickets. Reservations for Tatkal AC classes normally open at 10:00 AM, while those for sleeper classes start at 11:00 AM. However, the platform is currently unavailable to countless customers due to maintenance, which is frustrating people all around the country.

Passengers needing to cancel tickets or file a TDR (Ticket Deposit Receipt) are advised to contact customer care at 14646, 08044647999, or 08035734999. Alternatively, they can email their queries to [email protected].

As India’s largest public transporter, Indian Railways carries millions of passengers daily. The IRCTC platform’s downtime has disrupted travel plans, leaving travellers stranded without the ability to book tickets. This disruption also highlights the critical dependence on digital platforms for efficient public transportation services.

Reports further add that the outage coincides with a dip in IRCTC’s stock performance. During morning trading hours on the same day, IRCTC shares recorded a 1% decline. Over the past week, the stock has fallen approximately 4%, and for the year 2024, it has registered a 10% loss, reflecting broader concerns among investors.

While unforeseen disruptions can cause broad inconvenience to users and possibly affect their confidence in the system, maintenance is necessary to ensure the seamless operation of digital platforms. In order to restore normalcy and prevent such difficulties in the future, Indian Railways and IRCTC would need to take swift action to resolve such concerns.

Passengers are urged to stay updated through official channels and plan their travel accordingly once services resume. In the meantime, alternative arrangements and customer support services are available to address immediate concerns.