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Old 11th March 2008, 12:47   #1
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Indian Railways website (www.irctc.co.in) EDIT: IR resumes linen supply in select trains

How many of you have used Indian Railways online ticketing system ?. How many times you have encountered issues like "communication failure"

Every year, we hear stories about shining Indian Railway. But their internet service is worst in its class. "Communication failure" is a common issue (6 out of 10). Try giving some berth preference, it may not work. But if you go to the counter and give preference, it works.
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Old 11th March 2008, 12:51   #2
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i have been using the site often. yeah, the communication failure does happen sometimes, but on the whole, i have been happy with the site (booking and delivery of tickets)
but sometimes, the site just doesnt work, and that is quite frustrating. it is still better than standing in long lines at the station. That is a mess!
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Old 11th March 2008, 12:52   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by swageo View Post
Try giving some berth preference, it may not work. But if you go to the counter and give preference, it works.
Same is the case with online passport applications. When I asked for a date for renewing my family's passports, I got 3 different dates, and the earliest date was 20 days away.

But when I paid Rs 60 per head at the Passport office for online registration, I got all three on one date, that too only 3 days away.
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Old 11th March 2008, 12:54   #4
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I agree with Bunny, although I have faced issues, Overall I am quite satisfied with the service.
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Old 11th March 2008, 12:54   #5
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Tell me about it. It literally goes to sleep once you fire a query at it.

But trying to understand the way in which it works involving locking mechanisms made me rather appreciative. I call it names, but to me it any day beats having to drive down to a railway booking office, waiting in line, filling a form and then procuring a ticket.
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Old 11th March 2008, 13:00   #6
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I have used IRCTC many times before (more than a year) and found it useful.

Recently (last 4 weeks) i have found it unusable, "Time outs", "unable to retrieve", lots of other issues.

Finally it took me less time to visit a Ticketing counter and get my ticket.
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Old 11th March 2008, 13:01   #7
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I am using it quit often and since last 4 years. I have very happy with the service.
I did encounter this com failure only once or twice but in that case better to try after sometime.

Abhi

Last edited by akroy : 11th March 2008 at 13:03.
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Old 11th March 2008, 13:03   #8
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i know it can be frustrating.. but let me tell you.. compared to my college days where i had to stand in those mile-long queues.. this is heaven :-)

btw, it is a fairly complex and sophisticated system. more often the so-called hi-tech payment gateways cause fatal failures, but irctc does pretty OK. most of the pain points are due to the limitations of the mainframe system which are usually very difficult to overcome (cost and time), but if u have been following the site evolution, it is getting better and better.

avoid booking during peak business hours :-)
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Old 11th March 2008, 13:07   #9
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Even i agree with bunny, have used the website lots of time. Though, some time it's down and not able to communicate properly with webservers. but still being a "Sarkari" thing, it's ok

Cheers
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Old 11th March 2008, 13:08   #10
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I use the site something like once a week on average. I really appreciate the facility but I must say the service really sucks. Some days you can finish the booking in less than 2 minutes and on other days it takes eternity with multiple communication failures and other stupid errors.
Due to increasing load on the site the IRCTC introduced the new site a few months ago, but i feel the situation has worsened since then.

But if you look their primary business i.e. railway food, you cant expect too much
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Old 11th March 2008, 13:24   #11
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Folks. irctc is the biggest site in the world period..

Imagine the hit rate on the site, user load as also the fact that as far as i can remember the site has never been down(communication failure not withstanding). I think this is a great feat.

Outstanding beacon of 'sarkari' efficiency
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Old 11th March 2008, 13:32   #12
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Agree with Sanjayatarizona. One will face a bit of problems in the afternoon when the hit rate is quite high. However. try doing it early morning or bit late in the night, its through without any hassles.
But a very good effort by Railways, we can live with few issues here and there.
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Old 11th March 2008, 13:34   #13
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I have been using this service from day one, and fully agree that its a heaven. Don't read me wrong.. I am talking about its reliability.

This "communication failure" happens only for internet reservations. It does not happen at the counter. Why ??. Either IRCTC server's have low resources or they use a low cost leased line to connect to Indian Railway. If this site has very large hit, upgrade it accordingly. Its not a free service.

I have booked 3rd AC for two elderly ladies of age 72 and 76. There were 90 seats available. I opted lower berth, and got two upper birth . What do you folks call this ?. Then I cancelled it, and went to counter. This time I got two lower berths.

Check any airlines online ticketing systems (not IndianAirlines). These kinds of errors are not that common. So lets not blame mainframes.
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Old 11th March 2008, 13:42   #14
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Quote:
I have booked 3rd AC for two elderly ladies of age 72 and 76. There were 90 seats available. I opted lower berth, and got two upper birth . What do you folks call this ?. Then I cancelled it, and went to counter. This time I got two lower berths.
Did you select the option where the ticket doesnt get booked if your preference is not alloted to you? This should have worked since there were so many seat available
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Old 11th March 2008, 13:43   #15
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I do get "Communication Failure" often but i normally get the Window Seat / Lower Birth preference (maybe i book early). IRCTC is a boon especially if you want to book tickets for your parents to visit you (they directly courier it to them). I remember the old days when i used to stand for more than 1 hour in Chennai/Mumbai/Bangalore to get the ticket.
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