Several passengers report issues with train ticket booking; IRCTC claims record e-ticket reservations

Several passengers shared issues on social media while trying to book train tickets on IRCTC on Tuesday. According to users, the disruption began in the morning when attempts to log in or complete bookings failed. Social media platform X (formerly Twitter) saw multiple complaints from passengers highlighting payment failures and error messages. However, IRCTC clarified that there was 'no technical breakdown or downtime'. Instead, the corporation said that the day 'witnessed the highest ever e-ticket booking of 18,40,203 on August 19'.

Independent outage tracking platform Downdetector also showed a spike in reports of IRCTC problems during the day. The issues have left many travelers unable to secure tickets for upcoming journeys.

Passengers unable to book tickets for Diwali travel:

Indian Railways opens its advance reservation window 60 days before the date of travel, and today, 19 August 2025, tickets for journeys starting from 18 October are available. With the Diwali holiday rush beginning around that period, a large number of passengers logged in this morning to secure seats, leading to heavy traffic on the IRCTC platform. This heavy rush may have resulted the glitch in the system.

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) manages online ticketing for Indian Railways. The service is heavily used across the country, especially during peak hours and festival seasons.

In a statement, IRCTC said: "There was no technical breakdown or NGeT system downtime on 19/08/2025. The user login count per minute during the peak period was observed to be much above daily average. In fact, the day witnessed the highest-ever e-ticket booking of 18,40,203 resulting from an unprecedented traffic on the NGeT system. The highest-ever daily bookings as well as highest-ever per minute bookings have been repeatedly achieved and records surpassed in the recent past."