The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) ticketing website experienced a technical glitch on Thursday, leaving thousands of passengers unable to book tickets online.

The issue caused widespread inconvenience as travelers struggled to secure reservations for upcoming journeys.

According to an IRCTC spokesperson, the glitch occurred in two intervals, from 10:01 am to 10:40 am and again from 10:51 am to 11:23 am due to some technical issue.

"During these periods, online ticket booking services were unavailable. However, reserved tickets remained accessible at Passenger Reservation System (PRS) counters" he said.

The timing of the outage coincided with heightened demand for tickets, as travelers prepared for New Year celebrations or sought to return home after Christmas festivities.

Many passengers attempting to book tickets for special trains or regular services encountered error messages. A notice on the website read: "E-ticketing services will not be available due to maintenance. Please try again later."

Despite the system’s restoration at 11:23 am, passengers expressed frustration over failed transactions and inaccessible booking details. "I was trying to book a ticket for a special train but couldn’t complete the payment process," said one commuter.

Others echoed similar concerns, with social media platforms flooded with complaints about the disruption. With the year-end rush, many were left scrambling for alternate arrangements.

Any official of IRCTC assured that measures are being taken to prevent similar incidents in the future. However, the temporary outage highlighted the critical dependence on the online ticketing system, especially during peak travel periods.