IRCTC Tatkal Booking Hit by Fresh Glitches, Users Report Errors and Login Failures

New Delhi: During train ticket booking, problems were once again seen on the official portal of Indian Railways, IRCTC, on Tuesday. Many passengers complained on social media platforms that they are facing repeated “errors” and login issues while booking Tatkal tickets. In such a situation, users are getting stuck on both the computers installed in the office and the mobile app and are not able to book the tickets completely. This problem especially comes to the fore during peak Tatkal booking times, when the demand for tickets is very high. 

What problems did the passengers report?

Many users reported that even after launch, they are not able to log in on time, or the system freezes midway through the booking process. Some said they are seeing messages like “Unable to perform action” or “Server error” repeatedly. Some passengers also claimed that the ticket gets booked, but the site gets logged out before payment or PNR generation, due to which the ticket is not confirmed. Due to all this, the anger of passengers is clearly visible on social media. 

What statement has IRCTC given so far?

Till now there has been no official announcement or detailed explanation about the problem from IRCTC. However, such outages and technical challenges have been reported several times in the last few months, especially in the same Tatkal booking window when passengers try to book tickets from 10 pm onwards. In such situations, error reports on platforms like Downdetector increase, indicating that a technical issue is impacting customers' booking experience. 

Have these problems happened before?

Issues of glitches and outages on train ticket booking platforms are not new. There were reports of the IRCTC website and mobile app being down during last year and also during festivals, especially during Tatkal booking when the pressure on the service increases. During that time too, many passengers shared their experiences on social media and raised questions on the technical arrangements.

What is the impact of the passengers' anger?

Today's problems have increased the dissatisfaction of many regular rail passengers, especially those who are able to book essential tickets only through Tatkal. These passengers say technical glitches are making it difficult for them to plan their journeys and reducing confidence in whether the system will be able to hold up during high-demand times. Passengers have continued to voice their complaints on social media regarding the platform's reliability and user experience. 

Now what can we see next?

Meanwhile, passengers and technology experts say that Railways and IRCTC will have to further strengthen their demand handling, server capacity, and login system. At a time when the demand for Tatkal booking is at its peak, the need to provide better solutions to users stuck in the system increases. If no solution is found soon, this issue may not only become a problem for common passengers but may also impact the image of the platform.