IRCTC Crashes Again Ahead of Diwali Tatkal Booking: ‘Same Story Every Year,’ Say Users

Oct 17, 2025, 13:13 IST
- Sakshi Post

The Indian railway ticketing platform (IRCTC) faced a major outage on October 17 (Friday), just as scores of citizens tried to book Tatkal tickets for the Diwali holidays.

According to reports, both the IRCTC app and website crashed, leaving many users unable to book tickets online. Downdetector recorded complaints surging to 6,066 around 11:45 pm. Tatkal bookings open daily at 10 am for AC coaches and 11 am for non-AC, coinciding with peak traffic for urgent bookings.

The systems reportedly went down exactly when heavy traffic poured in. Users have long complained about issues accessing the IRCTC app and website, especially while booking Tatkal tickets.

IRCTC officials confirmed that technical issues caused the disruption and assured that teams were working to restore services as quickly as possible.

Affected users took to X (formerly Twitter) to voice their frustration. One shared screenshots of the error message, writing, “@IRCTCofficial, @irctc_app, @RailwaySeva fire your developers… I have not slept for days. Just wanted to go home on Diwali. I tried 2 months ago, same thing happened, and now on Tatkal as well. This was my last chance, and here we go!”

Others mocked IRCTC, with one saying, “IRCTC servers are powered by Indian Railways’ WiFi—that explains everything.”

Another termed it “Digital India’s Biggest Joke!” and wrote, “Every Tatkal or Premium Tatkal booking day, the IRCTC server collapses like it’s running on 2G. Common passengers get nothing, while agents and booking mafias grab all tickets in seconds. Instead of improving transparency, the system is built to frustrate citizens. Shame that in 2025, India’s largest railway network can’t manage a simple online booking!”

Expressing similar frustration, one user added, “Every year, same story: IRCTC fails again during Diwali Tatkal bookings. Booking timings 10:00 AM. Till 10:07 AM: Site unreachable. By the time it opens, tickets gone. For a platform that knows festive rush is coming, how does this still happen?”

The recurring outage highlights persistent technical flaws in the IRCTC system, raising questions about the platform’s readiness to handle high-demand periods and its impact on passengers relying on timely bookings.


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Tags: 
National News
IRCTC Train ticket booking
IRCTC Website Down
Tatkal Bookings
Diwali Holidays
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