IRCTC Down: As the festive rush picked up ahead of Diwali, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) website and mobile app went down temporarily on October 17, leaving lakhs of passengers unable to book train tickets. The outage struck just as travellers were scrambling to secure last-minute seats to head home for the holidays.
Bookings and Cancellations Temporarily Halted
According to a notification displayed on the IRCTC website, “all booking and cancellation services will remain unavailable for the next one hour.” The message advised users needing to cancel tickets or file a TDR (Ticket Deposit Receipt) to “call 08044647999 or 08035734999 or email etickets@rcte.co.in.”
The disruption hit at a crucial time, causing widespread frustration among passengers. Many took to social media to complain about being unable to log in or complete payments on both the website and the IRCTC Rail Connect app.
Platform Down Just Before Tatkal Window
IRCTC’s Tatkal booking window typically opens at 10 am for AC classes and 11 am for sleeper class tickets. However, on Thursday, the system reportedly went down around 10:40 am, right before Tatkal bookings were to begin. This left thousands of users staring at error messages instead of confirmed tickets.
As ticket demand usually peaks ahead of Diwali, the timing of the outage couldn’t have been worse. Frequent travellers described it as “a nightmare before the festival,” pointing out that the system had already been running slowly in the days leading up to the rush.
IRCTC Stock Sees Marginal Dip
Meanwhile, shares of IRCTC were slightly affected by the glitch. As of 11:10 am, the company’s stock was trading 0.28 per cent lower at Rs 717.05 on the BSE. Despite this minor dip, IRCTC shares have shown a 0.34 per cent gain over the past week and a 1.44 per cent rise in the last two weeks.
However, over the past six months, the stock has declined by 6.74 per cent, and over the past year, it has dropped by 17.69 per cent. The company’s market capitalisation currently stands at around Rs 57,400 crore.
The IRCTC team is expected to restore services soon.
