RailEnquiry

MUMBAI: That Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC)'s e-ticketing facility has not kept pace with the rise in demand is evident from the large number of failed transactions. Approximately 35 lakh transactions in June 2012 and almost 37 lakh attempts in May 2012 could not materialize due to the huge rush to book railway tickets online. To top it, there are several cases where a ticket is not generated, and yet the transaction amount gets debited from the card.

According to IRCTC, around 4.5 lakh bookings are done per day through its web site. The overall failure rate for May and June was 72% and 75%, respectively. Netbanking and debit card transactions were the worst performers with a success rate of 66% in May 2012 and a slightly improved 71% in June 2012.

Admitting to the problem, a senior railway official said, "The figures reveal an awful success rate. If the railway board does not act fast, the failure rate will increase further as the use of e-ticketing facility is catching up fast among passengers."

Pradeep Kundu, spokesman for the IRCTC, said, "The problem of money getting deducted even though a transaction does not get completed is not solely IRCTC's fault. It could also be because of poor internet quality at the consumer's end or some technical problem at the bank's end."

The success rate is better when a transaction attempt is made through a cash card. In May 2012, it stood at 87%—21% higher than a debit card. The failure comes with an additional headache as the money deducted is refunded into the customer's card account three to four days after the failed transaction date.

Kundu also blamed failed transactions on too many concurrent hits for the same berth or seat. He said, "At one point in time, we used to receive eight to nine lakh concurrent hits during peak hour. However, the change in tatkal booking timings has seen concurrent hits fall to four to five lakh. The traffic has almost halved due to these measures."

An expert in the field of merchant banking said, "The failure could also be a result of an incorrect password or insufficient balance or an abrupt abortion before the process is completed." To ease the problem, "the IRCTC can also ease out a payment gateway with a poor success rate. This will help improve the overall strike rate."

A large number of commuters alleged that the web site is too slow and completing a transaction is time-consuming. Shyam Pandya, a commuter, said, "Many times, the processing is so slow that I get logged out of the session automatically without ascertaining ticket availability."

Saying that urgent steps are needed to be taken, N Unnikrishnan, another resident, said, "Last year, I had booked four tickets for Tier-III AC for Kerala. The payment of Rs 3,500 got deducted but the tickets were not booked."

Abhay Datar of Mumbai Grahak Panchayat said, "It is not only about the rate of failure. I had mentioned the choice for lower berth for my ticket. However, the site took me to the payment gateway and after the money was deducted, I got a message that the choice was not available and would I like to continue the booking. At this stage, the money had already been deducted from my account."