The IRCTC website, which was to take bookings for 15 special trains being run from May 12, seemed unable to take the load of visitors as thousands of passengers tried to book their tickets at 4pm, when it was slated to open.

The railways said the booking will now commence at 6pm.

While no official reason was stated as to why the website did not open, sources said 'it did not crash, but data is being uploaded'. They urged passengers to 'please wait'.

Last checked, the IRCTC site was not even opening its home page.

Till 4pm, the railways had not been able to publicise the train list or timings of the departure of the 15 trains.

On Sunday, Indian Railways had announced that it will restart its services with initially planning to run 15 select passenger trains from Tuesday.

It was clarified that the tickets will only be available on the IRCTC website (www.irctc.co.in). Ticket counters, including those for platform tickets, at all stations will remain closed.

These trains will be run as special trains from New Delhi station connecting Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi.

Earlier in the day, the ministry of home affairs announced standard operating procedures (SOP), saying that only asymptomatic and confirmed ticket holders will be allowed to travel.

It further said that the railways ministry will ensure that all passengers are screened. Masks are mandatory, the SOP stated.