Title - Diwali vacation demand cripples railway booking website

MUMBAI: Lakhs of passengers trying to book tickets through the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporations (IRCTC) website had a tough time on Thursday. The portal was unable to handle the excess demand due to the onset of Diwali vacations. Either the web page would not load or the passengers couldn't log in. In some cases, the process got aborted while searching 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 access the website due to the vacation period."

The IRCTC has blamed too many hits during the peak demand period for failure. According to an official, "A lot of people are trying to spend the Diwali holidays with their family. Many were trying to book tickets under the tatkal quota. The system is not able to handle so many hits."

According to rules, booking for tatkal quota begins a day before the train's departure date. Since it is impossible to get a confirmed berth by regular booking, many people try their luck under the tatkal quota.

Ajay Shah, a Mulund resident, said, "I stayed back at home to book the ticket from my personal computer. I have been trying since morning but the site is excruciatingly slow. I was not able to complete the process to book the ticket."

This the second time in three months when the IRCTC website has been unable to function properly.