[grules]

The last i heard was, agents had to shell out 5 lakh Rs to get a VPN connection to a dedicated agent login server which is not affected by public website traffic volumes.

[tj123]

Originally Posted by grules

The last i heard was, agents had to shell out 5 lakh Rs to get a VPN connection to a dedicated agent login server which is not affected by public website traffic volumes.

Corruption at all levels is ruining quality of life for the common man. Be it a simple activity as booking railway tickets , getting a passport , DL etc.

Black sheeps are so much rooted in the system that it is nullifying the development of this country at various levels. Everywhere we have to live a substandard life just because of our “Chala hai” attitude and non accountability of the political & bureaucratic system.

[indian21r]

seriously who does an upgrade which is worse than the previous one. Before I was always able to book a tatkal but now it is impossible. Worse is after filling all details, it failed twice.

Now cleartrip and other sites get delayed access to Tatkal. Why did they even do this

[ghodlur]

I had a harrowing time with IRCTC last fortnight when I had unconfirmed tickets from starting point whereas my other train tickets for further travels were already confirmed. Till the last moment the seats weren't confirmed hence decided to go for tatkal booking.

Imagine my horror when the website failed at 8 am with error saying services unavailable. As a preparation I had asked 4 guys to book the ticket at 4 different locations. Luckily my Bro in law was successfully in getting the confirmed berths at 8.11 am. By that time the available sleeper berth were down to half. After 7 mins the status was running into waiting. Had some real nervous moments. And add to that IRCTC website malfunctioning.

[shankar.balan]

going by the list of troubles below, I thought I should share that over the last 6-7 odd years that I have been using IRCTC to book tickets I ve never faced a problem with the transactions, speed, delivery etc etc.

I usually buy tickets a couple of times a year for my staff and all these transactions have thankfully gone through so far without a hitch.

[download2live]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

I have been using IRCTC to book tickets I ve never faced a problem with the transactions, speed, delivery etc etc.

I usually buy tickets a couple of times a year for my staff and all these transactions have thankfully gone through so far without a hitch.

Were you buying tatkal tickets at 8 in morning for trains leaving on Friday evening? If you were all the times able to buy the tickets on the opening day of tatkal at 8 in morning, then please let me know of your internet service provider name. I will switch over to them. Seriously, I mean it.

[PRADEEP KUMAR]

Originally Posted by download2live

Were you buying tatkal tickets at 8 in morning for trains leaving on Friday evening? If you were all the times able to buy the tickets on the opening day of tatkal at 8 in morning, then please let me know of your internet service provider name. I will switch over to them. Seriously, I mean it.

Hi,
+100 to that.I feel it is a deliberate attempt by IRCTC to block internet users from doing TATKAL.My recent experience was the day after DIWALI for trains leaving on Sunday and i was logged in for a good 60 minutes and was witness to availablity on 4 trains Chennai-Bangalore get waitlisted before i could complete the process.

cheers

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

...I have been using IRCTC to book tickets I ve never faced a problem with the transactions, speed, delivery etc etc.

Originally Posted by download2live

Were you buying tatkal tickets at 8 in morning for trains leaving on Friday evening? If you were all the times able to buy the tickets on the opening day of tatkal at 8 in morning, then please let me know of your internet service provider name. I will switch over to them. Seriously, I mean it.

@shankar.balan: Well, if your success rate is so high in the scenario above, then I'm seriously considering to request your help to book tickets for me. Am sure there would be a lot many people joining the queue.

d2l, you said it man. But, it doesn't matter whether you're on a Broadband or Dial-up, the IRCTC site simply won't load. I've seen extremely heavy websites loading in milliseconds while there are times when IRCTC would take ages, and a hundred presses on F5 before i finally get to the Print-Ticket page

[condor]

The traffic to the site is huge between 8 & 8.45 am every day. As long as I avoid this window, response has never been a problem.

Silversteed, for the printing - suggest you dont print at that time. You can always go back to your booking history later for the prints. The prints are secondary - booking is more important.

[silversteed]

^^^ I meant the page displaying PNR, "You've successfully booked your ticket blah blah" stuff.

I feel it's high time they upgrade their network infrastructure to cater to the rush for Tatkal tickets

[supremeBaleno]

I have BSNL broadband at home and also Reliance Netconnect. But when I need to book Tatkal, I do it only from office - link is much more quicker and reliable - and I have almost always got the tickets. Last week I booked 3 sets of Tatkal tickets (2624 for Friday, 2623 for tomorrow and 2626 for Sunday - all 3 being 3AC and last one for 4 pax) and got all 3.

It does mean that sometimes I would have to drive 20kms to work on a holiday, but I am OK with that, since I can be really sure about getting the ticket.

Having been a very frequent user of IRCTC (hundreds of tickets in the last 3 years, due to my weekly travel), I think the word "hopeless" is wrongly used in this thread, as they are pretty good. I can't imagine what I would have done without online booking, given my travel pattern.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

I use Firefox, which can print HTML to PostScript/PDF. I always print to files and reprint the tickets as and when I want them.

Of course, you can always relogin at convenience and take any number of prints of your tickets.

[Knight Rider]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

I had a harrowing time with IRCTC last fortnight when I had unconfirmed tickets from starting point whereas my other train tickets for further travels were already confirmed. Till the last moment the seats weren't confirmed hence decided to go for tatkal booking.

Imagine my horror when the website failed at 8 am with error saying services unavailable. As a preparation I had asked 4 guys to book the ticket at 4 different locations. Luckily my Bro in law was successfully in getting the confirmed berths at 8.11 am. By that time the available sleeper berth were down to half. After 7 mins the status was running into waiting. Had some real nervous moments. And add to that IRCTC website malfunctioning.

I also had the same experience, So its safe to say that its not a technical glitch. First time, i checked seats were available and then the site went down! next time i checked, everything was taken!

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

I have BSNL broadband at home and also Reliance Netconnect. But when I need to book Tatkal, I do it only from office - link is much more quicker and reliable -

It does mean that sometimes I would have to drive 20kms to work on a holiday, but I am OK with that, since I can be really sure about getting the ticket.

I do nothave direct experience with what SB has mentioned above, but my colleague who does exgtensive train travel has the very same opinion and experience as above.

When he tries to book Tatkal tickets from office, he is able to get through in most situations. I do not know of his exact success rate, but its much better than when trying from home.

I am not interested in the hassles which are involved in the booking process, so i almost always drive, else get a bus ticket.

[Fillmore]

One tip to book tatkal.
Before you attempt , keep the Station short codes ready. Eg SBC for Bangalore city. etc..
this kind of speeds up the process to a certain extent at least.