The hardships we have in regards to Tatkal bookings on IRCTC website are part of folklore now. Every person has experienced it one or the other time and if you have not, trust me you are a rare breed.
Looks like finally the cries for help have reached IRCTC’s ears. Although they have not brought about an earth-shattering change, it will definitely help users to do their Tatkal bookings much faster.
During the 2 hours of Tatkal booking (from 10:00am to 12:00pm), the website will be sans any kind of advertisements, pop-ups, ugly floating messages, links, images, services and features, banners, alerts, promotional texts, etc. The links on the page will only be in regards to Tatkal bookings.
The new bare-bones look of the site gets activated 30 minutes before commencement of Tatkal booking.
Just to give you an idea, here is the change.
New IRCTC Website During Tatkal Timings
IRCTC Website During Non-Tatkal Timings
Doesn’t that previous version looks so much more pleasing to eyes?
Another interesting aspect is that travel agents will not be able to access the link during this two-hour duration. They are provided with a separate link incase they want to do ticket cancellations.
Since the time this new bare-bones look has been implemented, the average bookings have shot up quite significantly. The first hour bookings have have risen from 48,000 to 58,000 tickets, even surpassing the record 70,000 mark on some occasions.
Few months back, IRCTC had also launched their Window 8 app, which has been quite popular with Windows users, and has been getting some rave reviews as well.
Have you tried tatkal ticket bookings on this super light-weight version of IRCTC, if you have, so share your experiences with us.
[…] past couple of years, they have introduced many new features that include E-Wallet for payments, light-weight website version to facilitate Tatkal bookings and mobile app on Windows 8 […]
The worst website in the World – no doubt IRCTC!!!
1. Does not work/allow individuals to login when most needed during tatkal. And by the time login is successful, all tatkal tickets are sold out – however I believe that Agents do not face any such trouble (there is a separate link for Agent login). Lightweight version has sunk deep down due to gravity.
2. Instead of providing features like E-Wallet (super flop idea), I would rather wish they worked on successful and speedy completion of on-line transactions.
3. Time out feature is rubbish, especially when there is background working where no one has any control. Seems security features were borrowed from World Bank website!!! as if some one would steal their tickets if he were allowed to remain logged in for long time.
..The list could go on, I wish some one is listening to simplify things rather than complicate them further by weird ideas
even during normal hours the web site is very slow and every time after payment we get a message your session has expired. we have to wait for 3- 4 days for receiving back the amount.
bull shit, not even to book a single ticket in one hour , takes long time to login and by the time you enter detail, it logs off repetadely
irctc light weight version is more sucker than previous version
For some reason, the ‘lighter’ version is much much slower than the original one. I have booked many tatkal tickets, but since the lighter version, haven’t been able to book a single one. It gets stuck midway at some point. First time the money got taken but no ticket, second time session expired after sitting for hours in front of the stupid site. And yesterday service unavailable after almost booking my ticket again. It is worse than the earlier one. All three times ended by going by bus!!!
Site is pleasing to the eyes ????
arey site seeing ke liye koi IRCTC mein login nahin karta hai mere bhai……the site was, is and will remain this pathetic only i guess….
India ka sab se ghatia site 24×4 hr
India ka sab se bekar site lite weight matlab very heavy site login ke liya ghanto intazar karna tab tak booking waiting ho jata hai
IRCTC Website Brings Super Lightweight Version For Tatkal Bookings! its just a fake advt. by indian railway as it takes too much time to open, our government is only intrested in scam not for the useful for the mass. Indian railway will be rank in number one (1) only as india largest toilet.
The Website cannot be faster, to be fast it has to be hosted on a network with really fast servers which will take almost 2 to 5 lac hits a second, the version we are looking at right now will only be able to handle to its last breath a capacity of about 75000 hits because of which your login just freezes any moment right now, this can be done only when the bureaucracy ends and red tapism ends………why cannot we take the help of premier institutes like IIM and IIT to make a website to handle the workload, we anyways spend too much on this site, so maybe wed can spend a little more and give these institutions the chance to improve the website
i spent more than 45 minutes online, just to get the home to enter user id and password!!, and then after entering the password
irctc is one of the slowest gateway for booking ticket, even during non tatkal hour it behave strangely sometimes. i never trust irctc for tatkal tickets booking. they have no idea how can resolve this problem. so, better to not book ticket from irctc during tatkal hour.
its to much poor site please block this site or repairs it
I think so i am agree with the advertisment part. why the hell Indian Railway has advertisment on a secure website. we should come together and file a case against it.
I have tried to book Tatkal ticket several times, but find it very difficult to open the IRCTC site. I have spent 2 hrs/day regularly for 7 days, but find it just impossible to book the tickets. We can’t blame the technology or blockage of lines due to huge rush during tatkal hours. If it is so, no body could get any information on google website, where the users are more than 100 times. The main reason behind this is the corruption is deeply rooted in India. If people could access the Tatkal website from home & book tickets, the business of touts & black marketers would finish, which our govt. doesn’t want. We have to face such problems, not only ticket booking, but in every sphere of life, because we are Indian.
I wanted to purchase non tatkal ticket and opened irctc during tatkal timing ie around 11.00 hours. I got lightweight version of website for tatkal. Somehow this got stuck and now I am always getting this window and not able to book my tikets.
Can someone sole this problem.
it sucks… i spent more than 45 minutes online, just to get the home to enter user id and password!!, and then after entering the password, I felt I am sitting in front of computer 5 years ago, awaiting something to pops out!! It really sucks to wait, wait and wait nothing to happen!!
At the end, booked a bus ticket!!
I have used the IRCTC web site on many occasions and have undergone enormous amount of harassment due to server failures, incomplete payment transactions and so on. I understand that a huge number of commuters across India (maybe outside India too) need to access this web site simultaneously and thus causing traffic jams on the web site and am willing to live with it. But what I fail to understand is the advertisements on this site. Not sure who had this brainwave to allow advertisements on a Govt. web site and for what purposes other than earning a few bucks which is really a pittance compared to crores worth of transaction happening every day.
Someone should do a check if Govt. sites are permitted to advertise and make money. And if we go further we see options in the main page to make airlines bookings, hotel bookings and much more. Are these really required? Just compare with a truly professional site like Google Search. It presents just a blank box to search and gives top preference to the user. It makes dollars through discreet advertisements in background is a different thing but the user is not affected.
I only shudder to think the day IRCTC decides to integrate its web site with Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and other social media sites. We will truly be getting into being rewarded as the slowest and most chaotic web site in the world, if such an award category exists.
Hey Partha, search the Google for the world’s worst websites…IRCTC features in it too. So indeed there is a category where this stands out best (WORST!)