IRCTC Faces Major Outage Amid Busy Holiday Season, Stock Affected

Indian Railways' online ticketing platform, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), is facing a major outage on Thursday, preventing passengers from accessing its website and mobile app.

IRCTC, which handles e-ticketing for Indian Railways, confirmed that the disruption was due to maintenance work. "Due to maintenance activity, e-ticketing service will not be available. Please try later," the company stated.

This is the second disruption in December, causing concern among frequent users. In an additional notice, IRCTC advised passengers who need to cancel tickets to either contact customer care or email their ticket details for a Ticket Deposit Receipt (TDR). The contact information for cancellations is:

Customer Care Numbers: 14646, 08044647999, 08035734999

Email: [email protected]

The timing of the outage is particularly inconvenient, as many passengers depend on the platform for booking or managing their train tickets during the busy holiday season.

The service interruption also affected IRCTC's stock performance. The company's stock dropped nearly 1% during today's trading session, and over the past week, it has decreased by almost 4%. Year-to-date, the stock has provided a negative return of more than 10% for investors in 2024.

This disruption follows significant changes to Indian Railways' ticketing policies, which were implemented on November 1. The Advance Reservation Period (ARP) for train bookings was reduced from 120 days to 60 days, limiting the time passengers can book their tickets in advance.

The policy change, aimed at reducing over-bookings and cancellations, has sparked mixed reactions. Indian Railways explained that the move would help better track travel demand and improve planning for special trains during peak periods.

It is also intended to discourage 'No-Show' passengers, who book tickets but do not cancel or use them. According to Railway Board officials, approximately 21% of reservations made between 61 and 120 days in advance were cancelled, while 5% of passengers neither cancelled their bookings nor travelled.