Title - Diwali rush cripples rly reservation website

Mumbai:Lakhsof passengers trying to book tickets through the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporations (IRCTC) website had a tough time on Thursday. The portal wasunabletohandletheexcess demand due to the onset of Diwali vacations. Either the web page would not load or the passengerscouldn’tlog in.In some cases, the process got aborted whilesearching for trains.
    Pradip Kundu,joint general manger, public relations, IRCTC, said, “There was some problem during the morning hours but the situation did improve by evening. It happened because too many people were trying to accessthewebsitedue tothe vacation period.”
    The IRCTC has blamed too many hits during the peak demand period for the failure. An official said, “Many people wanttospendDiwaliwiththeir families.They havebeen trying to book tickets under the tatkal quota. The system is not able to handleso many hits.”
    According to rules,booking for tatkal quota begins a daybefore the train’s departure date. Since it is impossible to get a confirmed berth by regular booking, many people try their luckunder thetatkal quota.
    Ajay Shah, a Mulund resident, said, “I stayed back at hometobooktheticketfrom my personal computer. I have been trying since morning but the siteisexcruciatingly slow.Iwas not abletocompletethe process tobooktheticket.” Thisthesecond time in three months that theIRCTCwebsitehasbeen unabletofunction properly.