IRCTC site and app down the second time this month: Easy workarounds and tips

For the past hour, the IRCTC (Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation) website and mobile app, which many depend on to book tickets and for travel information, has been down. Acknowledging the outage, the Railways quoted technical issues as the reason. They said, 'Due to maintenance activity, e-ticketing service will not be available. Please try later.' In another advisory, they said passengers can cancel their tickets by emailing their ticket ID for a Ticket Deposit Receipt (TDR) to etickets@irctc.co.in. They have also provided the numbers 14646, 08044647999, 08035734999 for cancellation assistance. The outage occurred just a few weeks after the Railways brought in major changes in its ticket booking policies. The advance reservation period was reduced to 60 days from 120 days from November 1, this year. 

Here are a few workarounds for those looking to book or cancel tickets, railway information and more:
1)  With bookings and cancellations, contact authorised IRCTC agents or private ticketing services if you need the service urgently.
2) If you want to check timings, depend on third-party apps like the National Train Enquiry System (NTES) or RailYatri.
3) You can check your PNR status by sending an SMS in this format: Send PNR <your PNR number> to the number 139. For ticket cancellations, you can SMS in this format - CANCEL <PNR number> to 139.

4) For urgent travel, opt for tatkal booking at Railway station counters during their designated hours.
5) You can also try purchasing tickets at the automatic ticket vending machines, which are now available at many stations. 
6) There arer also apps like 'ConfirmTkt,' 'IXIGO Train App' and 'Trainman' that can help you with various services like booking, seat availability, schedules, routes and more.