New Delhi, March 6: Passengers planning to book rail tickets online on Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) are likely to face inconvenience as the website will be shut for a day. According to the alerts on IRCTC's official website, irctc.co.in, the booking and cancellation services will not be available from March 6, 12:00 am to March 7, 6:00 am. The online services will be available for people due to maintenance activity, IRCTC informed. The website stated, "Booking and Cancellation will not be available from 00:00 hrs on 06/03/2019 to 06:00 hrs on 07/03/2019 due to maintenance activity. Inconvenience caused is deeply regretted." IRCTC Launches New Method For Booking Tatkal Tickets: Here’s How You Can Book Online Tickets in Easy Steps.

Lakhs of people use the IRCTC website to book tickets each day. As of December 2018, the share of reserved ticket booking through IRCTC portal and mobile app exceeded 65 per cent. The statistics were announced in a railway board order dated December 12. According to reports, less than 35 per cent of reserved tickets were booked at reservation counters. IRCTC: Indian Railways Scraps Warrant System, Launches New E-Ticket Facility For CRPF Personnel. 

Ticket booking via IRCTC was introduced in 2005 in New Delhi - Kalka Shatabdi Express. The facility was later extended to all trains. The online ticket booking facility of the Indian Railways has reduced the burden on people as ticket bookings can be done in just a click, avoiding long queues at reservation counters. To give passengers a good travel experience in terms of food quality in trains, the IRCTC has developed a live streaming mechanism that will allow passengers to view how the food served to them in trains is prepared and packaged at various base kitchens of the national transporter. Indian Railways New Time Table From August 15, 2018: How to Check Revised Timings of Train Before Your Journey. 

With over 8700 railway stations, it has been an endeavor of the Indian Railways to provide adequate amenities to the passengers at the stations. While certain amenities are provided at the time of construction of new stations based on anticipated traffic, amenities are further augmented from time to time with the growth in passenger traffic at stations, based on the needs of travelling public and availability of funds.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 06, 2019 11:11 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).