IRCTC website crashes amid Diwali, Chhath Puja ticket rush; Memes flood internet
The IRCTC website crashed amid the Diwali and Chhath Puja ticket rush, leaving thousands unable to book trains. Heavy traffic, especially after Tatkal bookings opened, caused the outage. Netizens reacted with viral memes, while IRCTC assured refunds for failed transactions within 3–5 days.
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As Diwali and Chhath Puja travel plans kicked into high gear, thousands of users reported that the IRCTC website was down while trying to book train tickets for the festive season. The outage left many frustrated, with error messages like “The server is temporarily unable to serve requests. Error code 109” appearing on screens.
The crash comes at a critical time as holiday travelers rush to secure tickets for family visits, reunions and festive celebrations. Reports suggest that the website struggled to handle the surge in traffic, particularly following the opening of Tatkal bookings on Friday morning.
While the outage caused inconvenience, many internet users responded with humor, turning the situation into a viral meme fest. Social media platforms saw captions like “America kya kehta tha” and “IRCTC is an absolute crash” trending among netizens, reflecting the shared frustration of delayed ticket bookings.
IRCTC reassured passengers that payments stuck during failed transactions would be automatically refunded within 3 to 5 working days. Travelers were advised to check email or SMS confirmations once the system resumed normal operations.
This is not the first time the IRCTC platform has faced glitches during peak travel seasons. Past Diwali and holiday periods have seen similar technical issues, highlighting the challenges of managing massive traffic on the platform during high-demand periods.
With millions of Indians traveling across the country to celebrate festivals with their families, the IRCTC outage underscores the pressure on digital ticketing systems during peak festive seasons, leaving travelers hoping for a swift resolution.
Here's how netizens reacted:
What is wrong with @IRCTCofficial during Tatkal hours? Yesterday, payments were not working. Today the website itself is down. Worst possible service. What is @RailMinIndia @AshwiniVaishnaw doing? Only Promoting Swadeshi Apps based out of US? pic.twitter.com/rNcmNkAInj
— Raunak Mandal (@raunakmandal_) October 17, 2025
Irctc ???? never works when you need it . Server down again
— Shivam (@shivamufc) October 17, 2025
America kya kehta tha?@AshwiniVaishnaw Andaman wale servers ka kya hua? #IrctcDown pic.twitter.com/FodLTaMFvX
— ❌ (@VaccinatedKidd) October 17, 2025
Irctc website/app crashed from too many bookings and users#IRCTC pic.twitter.com/7Kz6J4y8Jv
— HARENDRA CHAUHAN (@hari_chauhan_12) October 17, 2025
