Indian Railways website (www.irctc.co.in) EDIT: IR resumes linen supply in select trains

Mr.Boss · 14th April 2011, 10:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by wildon

Here is my Tatkal booking experience today.

Till 7.54 a.m (irctc site timings)everything works superfast in irctc including quick book.
At 7.55 a.m (irctc site timings) quick option went down and got a message that " Quick book option not available from 8.00a.m to 9.00 a.m"

Gone to the "Plan My Travel" and got a message " Service not available"

At 8.05 a.m all Tatkal seats gone to the Waiting list mode.

Experienced the similar case many times.

08:00:55 - Ticket availability 62
08:01:40 - Availability 23 (After entering the passenger deatils)
08:03:13 - WL41 (After making payment)

But finally got confirmed 2 hours before chart preparation

download2live · 14th April 2011, 12:02

Mine was even better.
At 8.00, 48 seats available in 3A.
At 8.01, WL 23.
I was shocked.
I am a seasoned player in this area but frankly I feel that this qualifies for a new record.

supremeBaleno · 14th April 2011, 12:08

They have disabled QuickBook during the 1st hour of Tatkal opening (8 - 9AM) since some time now.

I had received an email forward about a blog-post where someone had used a Firefox add-on to accelerate the booking process (to ensure better hit-rate for Tatkal). Don't remember the details though - never bothered because I have been quite lucky in my attempts.

rishie · 14th April 2011, 13:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by wildon

Here is my Tatkal booking experience today.

Till 7.54 a.m (irctc site timings)everything works superfast in irctc including quick book.
At 7.55 a.m (irctc site timings) quick option went down and got a message that " Quick book option not available from 8.00a.m to 9.00 a.m"

Gone to the "Plan My Travel" and got a message " Service not available"

At 8.05 a.m all Tatkal seats gone to the Waiting list mode.

Yesterday and today I managed to book onward and return tickets to hyderabad from bangalore in tatkal for my relative.

It first says service not available, but keep refreshing until the page opens and once it opens, don't click refresh, it takes some time, but it will work.

mayankk · 14th April 2011, 13:58

i use makemytrip's train booking interface.
Although in the end that too depends on IRCTC to be up, but at least it makes for a more user-friendly experience.

BaCkSeAtDrIVeR · 14th April 2011, 14:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr.Boss

08:01:40 - Availability 23 (After entering the passenger deatils)
08:03:13 - WL41 (After making payment)

This should not be happening. Once passenger details are entered, the system is supposed to block the tickets till you make the payment. Obviously, some hanky panky is going on.

benbsb29 · 14th April 2011, 14:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by wildon

Here is my Tatkal booking experience today.

Wildon, try doing this 3 days in a row, and you would be 100% assured of achieving a hatrick with the same result.

ghodlur · 14th April 2011, 15:06

Its a harrowing time when booking tickets under tatkal. I knew that some mischief is bound to happen and same did happen with me as the page was unable to be refreshed. As if the page was stuck for some reason. Luckily had few friend and relatives trying simultaneously and finally could book the tickets through one of my relatives. Total help tried - 4 friends and 3 relatives and one gets lucky. I still remember the time of booking it was 8.02:30 am.
Had me sweating during those moments even in office AC

supremeBaleno · 14th April 2011, 15:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by rishie

It first says service not available, but keep refreshing until the page opens

Exactly. F5 is your friend here. It works, as I know from experience. Even in those cases when you have made the payment, but the transistion from bank-website to IRCTC is taking an inordinately long time to complete (with the possibility of transaction timing out), I have succeeded by doing a Refresh.

A350XWB · 14th April 2011, 15:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

This should not be happening. Once passenger details are entered, the system is supposed to block the tickets till you make the payment. Obviously, some hanky panky is going on.

It does not work like that. Happened to me many times. You see that there are seats available, you enter the details and make the payment and your ticket can end up in WL. Only thing what you can do is pray

NetfreakBombay · 14th April 2011, 15:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

Once passenger details are entered, the system is supposed to block the tickets till you make the payment.

Thats not the way this system is designed. There is no concept of blocking. System simply does booking once payment is cleared.

Fillmore · 14th April 2011, 15:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

Thats not the way this system is designed. There is no concept of blocking. System simply does booking once payment is cleared.

Ya I too would second that.
Given the volume of parallel transactions vs the time it takes to do a payment clearance they would not block any record.
Everything is open for first come first serve.

spindoc · 14th April 2011, 18:04

In response to the numerous complaints about problems with Tatkal (~ 8 to 10 AM) booking, IRCTC seem to have taken the "easy" way out by just increasing the timeout intervals throughout the application.

As a result, in place of the repeated service unavailable / failure messages previously encountered, users now get a sense of the pages loading at a much slower speed. Obviously, while one's booking requests / payment confirmation messages are still being processed, others are booking tickets in the background. Hence, the massive difference between What you see (when you click the make payment button) and what you eventually get.

The right approach would actually be to scale up / down hardware on demand, but they don't seem ready for that exercise yet.

Mr.Boss · 20th April 2011, 11:41

Ticket booking experience yesterday.

08:00:02 - www.irctc.co.in - Service not available - Refresh
08:00:07 - Login Page - Enter Login Credentials - Go
08:00:19 - Service not available - Refresh
08:00:40 - Plan my booking - Enter details - Find Trains
08:01:08 - Service not available - Refresh
08:01:15 - List displayed - Choose Train & Class
08:02:06 - Service not available - Refresh
08:02:18 - Available 114 - Book
08:02:51 - Service not available - Refresh
08:03:20 - Enter Passenger Details - Availability 97
08:03:43 - Payment Option - Select - Pay
08:04:22 - Amount debited - Pls wait
08:04:53 - Service not available

- Refresh
08:05:20 - Time out - Relogin
08:06:03 to 08:09:40 - Same story! again amount debited & Login Time out

08:11:10 to 08:16:45 - Third attempt, thank God availability was 26 and finally got the ticket confirmed

unoczar · 20th April 2011, 15:56

Lots of stories to share, not worth it but!

THE MOST FRUSTRATING SITE ON THE NET! I'm waiting for the loader to load in the Train Details and Availability as i'm writing this!

14th April 2011, 12:02	#212
download2live Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: - Posts: 1,147 Thanked: 1,144 Times	re: Indian Railways website (www.irctc.co.in) EDIT: IR resumes linen supply in select trains Mine was even better. At 8.00, 48 seats available in 3A. At 8.01, WL 23. I was shocked. I am a seasoned player in this area but frankly I feel that this qualifies for a new record.
	() Thanks

14th April 2011, 12:08	#213
supremeBaleno Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Chennai / Kochi Posts: 5,546 Thanked: 2,699 Times View My Garage	re: Indian Railways website (www.irctc.co.in) EDIT: IR resumes linen supply in select trains They have disabled QuickBook during the 1st hour of Tatkal opening (8 - 9AM) since some time now. I had received an email forward about a blog-post where someone had used a Firefox add-on to accelerate the booking process (to ensure better hit-rate for Tatkal). Don't remember the details though - never bothered because I have been quite lucky in my attempts.
	() Thanks

14th April 2011, 13:58	#215
mayankk Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: New Delhi Posts: 5,148 Thanked: 8,168 Times View My Garage	re: Indian Railways website (www.irctc.co.in) EDIT: IR resumes linen supply in select trains i use makemytrip's train booking interface. Although in the end that too depends on IRCTC to be up, but at least it makes for a more user-friendly experience.
	() Thanks

14th April 2011, 15:06	#218
ghodlur Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Thane Posts: 6,010 Thanked: 4,200 Times View My Garage	re: Indian Railways website (www.irctc.co.in) EDIT: IR resumes linen supply in select trains Its a harrowing time when booking tickets under tatkal. I knew that some mischief is bound to happen and same did happen with me as the page was unable to be refreshed. As if the page was stuck for some reason. Luckily had few friend and relatives trying simultaneously and finally could book the tickets through one of my relatives. Total help tried - 4 friends and 3 relatives and one gets lucky. I still remember the time of booking it was 8.02:30 am. Had me sweating during those moments even in office AC
	() Thanks

14th April 2011, 18:04	#223
spindoc BHPian Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Madras Posts: 356 Thanked: 293 Times	re: Indian Railways website (www.irctc.co.in) EDIT: IR resumes linen supply in select trains In response to the numerous complaints about problems with Tatkal (~ 8 to 10 AM) booking, IRCTC seem to have taken the "easy" way out by just increasing the timeout intervals throughout the application. As a result, in place of the repeated service unavailable / failure messages previously encountered, users now get a sense of the pages loading at a much slower speed. Obviously, while one's booking requests / payment confirmation messages are still being processed, others are booking tickets in the background. Hence, the massive difference between What you see (when you click the make payment button) and what you eventually get. The right approach would actually be to scale up / down hardware on demand, but they don't seem ready for that exercise yet.
	() Thanks

20th April 2011, 11:41	#224
Mr.Boss Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: GPS signal lost Posts: 2,811 Thanked: 7,464 Times View My Garage	re: Indian Railways website (www.irctc.co.in) EDIT: IR resumes linen supply in select trains Ticket booking experience yesterday. 08:00:02 - www.irctc.co.in - Service not available - Refresh 08:00:07 - Login Page - Enter Login Credentials - Go 08:00:19 - Service not available - Refresh 08:00:40 - Plan my booking - Enter details - Find Trains 08:01:08 - Service not available - Refresh 08:01:15 - List displayed - Choose Train & Class 08:02:06 - Service not available - Refresh 08:02:18 - Available 114 - Book 08:02:51 - Service not available - Refresh 08:03:20 - Enter Passenger Details - Availability 97 08:03:43 - Payment Option - Select - Pay 08:04:22 - Amount debited - Pls wait 08:04:53 - Service not available - Refresh 08:05:20 - Time out - Relogin 08:06:03 to 08:09:40 - Same story! again amount debited & Login Time out 08:11:10 to 08:16:45 - Third attempt, thank God availability was 26 and finally got the ticket confirmed
	() Thanks

20th April 2011, 15:56	#225
unoczar BHPian Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 536 Thanked: 224 Times	re: Indian Railways website (www.irctc.co.in) EDIT: IR resumes linen supply in select trains Lots of stories to share, not worth it but! THE MOST FRUSTRATING SITE ON THE NET! I'm waiting for the loader to load in the Train Details and Availability as i'm writing this!
	() Thanks