Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation's (IRCTC) website was down for an hour on Monday morning, affecting users trying to book tickets online. A message displayed on the website explained that the e-ticketing service was unavailable due to "maintenance activity."
During the downtime, users attempting to log on to the website saw a message stating, "Due to maintenance activity, e-ticketing service will not be available for next one hour. Please try later." The message also provided customer care contact numbers and email addresses for users needing to cancel tickets or file a TDR (Ticket Deposit Receipt).
The disruption impacted several key services, including online ticket booking, cancellations, and the Tatkal ticket booking system. Many users took to social media platforms to express their frustration, with some complaining about the ongoing issues with IRCTC's online services.
One user on X (formerly Twitter) wrote, "Using the IRCTC app daily feels like running a marathon in slow motion, except the finish line is a 'Session Expired' message." Others alleged that such problems occurred regularly and questioned the necessity of daily maintenance.
Another user criticised the timing, tweeting, "Perfect timing, @IRCTCofficial. Putting up the maintenance mode during Tatkal hours . When you say 1 hour, when will this get over? 11 AM, 11:05 AM, 11:15 AM? Or should we keep refreshing from now to the next 1 hour? Pathetic! @RailMinIndia."