The Confederation of All India Rail Users’ Association has approached the Railway authorities regarding the problems associated with the mobile application of Indian Railways used to book tickets and check train status. C.E.Chakkunny, working chairman of the association, said that the rail users were facing difficulties with the applications as well as the website and that the issue had been brought to the attention of the General Manager of Southern Railway. Besides its official application IRCTC Rail Connect, there are several applications approved by the Railway for the purpose. Bookings can also be done through the IRCTC website.
However, there have been complaints recently that the bookings were not happening and that several people had problems with making payments through net banking or e-wallets. Passengers are forced to book directly at the ticket counters to make sure that the tickets booked are really available. The applications often crash, forcing the users to re-login repeatedly. The distorted captchas often confuse users, especially zero and the letter ‘O’ that look alike. Some users find it impossible to book the tickets through the application or the website as the one time passwords are not available on time. The association has also raised a complaint regarding cancellation of eight trains that may lead to overcrowding in the remaining ones. “At a situation where COVID is spreading fast, we cannot afford to have overcrowding in buses and trains”, Mr. Chakunny said, adding that the issues had been brought to the attention of the Railway Ministry as well as the Railway Board.
