I have a draft post in my blogger congratulating Indian Railways of the new e-ticketing service 'Honorable' Mamta Bannerjee had launched on the 7th of July, 2011. In addition to lamenting over the lame javascript/ajax calls the developers wrote that were unpassably slow, I had wanted to talk about the utility of the advanced search that let you search using a stopover, and the futility of the vertical ticker that advertised 'Honorable' Ms Bannerjee.
I am glad I did not post that.
The site does not work any more.
The same vertical ticker that praised the Railways minister now declares "E-ticketing facility has been temporarily stopped. Inconvenience caused is deeply regretted."
Hoping the promised faster speed, lesser booking charges, no hogging up resources by agents, I had created an account, for which, I had to enter two different codes that were emailed and smsed to me. Unnecessary security more than my banks' websites provide. I also read that you could use an SMS as the ticket.
I am glad I did not use it to book tickets.
There were passengers whose could not book a ticket even after the ticket amount was deducted.
There are travellers who booked tickets through the new portal, and now want to cancel it. Since it is an e-ticket, they cannot cancel it over the counter. IRCTC has a different database and hence their tickets do not show up there. indianrailways.gov.in does not let them log in.
I saw poor (read stupid) passengers posting on blogs that covered the launch of this new venture by Indian Railways, asking them to help them out cancel tickets. Sample this on such a blog: "Please tell me how to cancel a ETICKET booked through this portal as you have disabled the portal.". Another advantage of not publishing my post.
The organization with the largest number of employers does not provide a reason for the 'temporarily stopping' of the e-ticketing facility. Neither do they mention anything about tickets already booked. I wonder if they are valid. The site or Indian Railways do not tell you when would the site be functional again, if at all.
So much for gov.in.
Update(22nd Aug, 2011): Some respite at last. People who had already booked tickets using the new railways service can at least get in touch with someone, as per the new notice on the defunct site: For any queries related to tickets already booked on this website, please Contact Helpdesk on 011-24107464, 011-26886540 or customercare@indianrailways.gov.in.
I am glad I did not post that.
The site does not work any more.
The same vertical ticker that praised the Railways minister now declares "E-ticketing facility has been temporarily stopped. Inconvenience caused is deeply regretted."
Hoping the promised faster speed, lesser booking charges, no hogging up resources by agents, I had created an account, for which, I had to enter two different codes that were emailed and smsed to me. Unnecessary security more than my banks' websites provide. I also read that you could use an SMS as the ticket.
I am glad I did not use it to book tickets.
There were passengers whose could not book a ticket even after the ticket amount was deducted.
There are travellers who booked tickets through the new portal, and now want to cancel it. Since it is an e-ticket, they cannot cancel it over the counter. IRCTC has a different database and hence their tickets do not show up there. indianrailways.gov.in does not let them log in.
I saw poor (read stupid) passengers posting on blogs that covered the launch of this new venture by Indian Railways, asking them to help them out cancel tickets. Sample this on such a blog: "Please tell me how to cancel a ETICKET booked through this portal as you have disabled the portal.". Another advantage of not publishing my post.
The organization with the largest number of employers does not provide a reason for the 'temporarily stopping' of the e-ticketing facility. Neither do they mention anything about tickets already booked. I wonder if they are valid. The site or Indian Railways do not tell you when would the site be functional again, if at all.
So much for gov.in.
Update(22nd Aug, 2011): Some respite at last. People who had already booked tickets using the new railways service can at least get in touch with someone, as per the new notice on the defunct site: For any queries related to tickets already booked on this website, please Contact Helpdesk on 011-24107464, 011-26886540 or customercare@indianrailways.gov.in.
As usual, our government can't decide what to do.
ReplyDeleteSad state of affairs.
I'd be honoured if you'd read my latest post & promote it-
The Tablet Revolutionary
I'd say a lack of vision and planning.
ReplyDelete