ICRTC Website Crashes, Tickets Sold Out as Railways Resume Service

With people booking tickets, reservations were made for over 82,000 passengers and over Rs 16 crore was collected.

As Railways resumed partial services under lockdown 3.0, the booking of tickets – which commenced on 11 May as announced by the Rail Ministry – faced disruption as the website crashed for two hours.

Passenger services on Indian Railways shall be partially restored w.e.f. from 12th May 2020 in a graded manner. 15 pairs of special trains shall be operated to 15 cities. Only online E-Ticketing will be done through IRCTC website. See attached list.https://t.co/HSfscqd7GQ pic.twitter.com/fUjBiTndDj

— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) May 11, 2020

IRCTC Website Crashes for 2 Hours

The booking of tickets was pushed to 6:00 pm from 4:00 pm as the website of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) crashed, NDTV reported.

"Data pertaining to special trains is being fed in the IRCTC website. Train ticket bookings will be available in a short while. Please wait. Inconvenience is regretted," the Ministry of Railway had tweeted.

Data pertaining to special trains is being fed in the IRCTC website. Train ticket bookings will be available in a short while. Please wait. Inconvenience is regretted.

— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) May 11, 2020

Reservations Made for 82,000 Passengers, Over Rs 16 Crore Collected

Around 45,500 PNRs were generated and reservations were made for over 82,000 passengers for special trains, Railways officials said according to PTI and ANI.

The total collection is reportedly over Rs 16 crore.

Delhi Howrah Tickets Fully Booked in 10 Minutes

Trains on certain routes were more sought after than others, like the ones plying between Delhi and Howrah.

Despite the delay in booking, all AC-1 and AC-3 tickets for the Howrah-New Delhi train were sold out within the first 10 minutes, PTI reported. The train is scheduled to leave the Howrah Railway station on 12 May at 5:05 pm.

Within 3 Hours, Tickets for Mumbai Central-New Delhi Sold Out

All tickets on the New Delhi-Mumbai Central route have been booked upto 18 May.

The train is set to depart from Mumbai Central railway station at 5.30 pm on 12 May and will be operating every day, Hindustan Times reported.

The train will have 20 coaches and will halt at Surat, Vadodara, Ratlam and Kota railway stations on the way.

Earlier, the government announced special trains will run from the New Delhi Station to Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi.