New Delhi: The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) website and mobile app crashed on Friday morning, leaving thousands of passengers unable to book train tickets during the peak festival season. The outage occurred just a day before Dhanteras, precisely when the critical ‘Tatkal’ quota for last-minute bookings was set to open, causing widespread frustration.
Officials from IRCTC acknowledged the issue, citing “technical reasons” for the disruption. “We are experiencing technical difficulties. Efforts are underway to rectify the issue as soon as possible,” an official statement said. Both the IRCTC website and its official mobile application are currently inaccessible.
This is not an isolated incident. The platform has a history of crashing during periods of high demand, with similar outages reported three times in December 2024 alone. The timing of this latest crash is particularly problematic, as countless people rely on the Tatkal service for last-minute travel home for the Diwali and Dhanteras festivities.
Users attempting to access the website are being met with a downtime message that reads: “Downtime Message, booking and cancellation service is not available on this site for the next one hour. Sorry for the inconvenience.”
For urgent cancellations or to file a Ticket Deposit Receipt (TDR), IRCTC has advised passengers to contact their customer care numbers at 14646, 08044647999, and 08035734999, or to send an email to etickets@irctc.co.in.
