The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), the online ticketing arm of Indian Railways, faced a major outage on Thursday, leaving passengers stranded and unable to access its website or mobile app. The disruption has come as a blow to travelers during the busy holiday season.
Why Is IRCTC Down?
The IRCTC clarified in an official statement that the outage was due to maintenance activities.
?Due to maintenance activity, e-ticketing service will not be available. Please try later,? read the notice.
This marks the second disruption in December, raising questions about the platform's reliability during peak travel times.
How Passengers Can Manage Bookings
In light of the outage, IRCTC issued guidelines for passengers needing to cancel tickets or seek refunds:
- Customer Care Numbers: 14646, 08044647999, 08035734999
- Email for Ticket Deposit Receipt (TDR): etickets@irctc.co.in
Passengers are encouraged to use these channels for assistance while the platform remains unavailable.
Impact on IRCTC Stock
The outage also dented IRCTC?s stock performance, with shares falling nearly 1% in intraday trading. Over the past week, the stock has seen a 4% drop, contributing to a negative return of over 10% year-to-date in 2024.
Recent Policy Changes Add to Passenger Challenges
The outage comes on the heels of a significant policy shift by Indian Railways. Starting November 1, the Advance Reservation Period (ARP) for booking train tickets was reduced from 120 days to 60 days. While aimed at reducing over-bookings and cancellations, the new policy has limited booking windows for travelers, creating added pressure during high-demand periods.
According to Railway Board officials:
- 21% of reservations made between 61 to 120 days in advance were cancelled.
- 5% of passengers failed to either cancel or show up for their journeys.
The revised ARP is intended to curb such behavior while enabling better travel demand forecasting and planning for special trains during peak times.
Passenger Concerns and Future Steps
The back-to-back disruptions in December have raised concerns among regular IRCTC users about the platform?s stability. For many, the e-ticketing service is indispensable, especially during holiday travel.
