In an unexpected episode, many Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) services suffered severe disruptions on Saturday. The Tatkal window opened for non-AC tickets at 11 am. However, users faced disruptions while booking. The app crashed frequently, and payments got deducted without ticket confirmation; error messages like “Not Found" and tickets jumped to “REGRET” (waitlist/full) within minutes. In short, the system appeared to break down at every step.

Netizens Express Frustations

Users quickly shared their frustration on X. A user shared a step-by-step breakdown of their failed attempt: “Logged in before 11 AM, started booking exactly at 11:00 AM, continuous buffering at every step, payment processed after long delay. End result: ticket NOT booked, but money deducted.”

Another said, "After 2–3 minutes it's showing all tickets in REGRET." A scam going on, nothing else.” A frequent complaint was about technical glitches.

One user wrote, “RailOne app glitch during Tatkal, showing ‘Not Found' even when seats are available.”

One user questioned how a nation renowned for providing international IT services has problems with its own system, highlighting the greater frustration. Some even proposed doing away with the system completely, saying, "If you can't provide good services... just close the Tatkal window permanently."

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IRCTC Responds

Reacting to the complaints, IRCTC referred to it as a "temporary issue" and suggested that customers make sure they are using the most recent version of the app, log out and restart it, clear its cache, reinstall it, and switch between Wi-Fi and mobile data. They were asked to submit thorough complaints with technical information such as device kind, IP address, and fault timing for unresolved cases.

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Bookings on Tatkal have always been high, but situations like this have left travellers perplexed: Is the system capable of managing peak demand, or are real users being displaced by agents or bots?

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