Passengers can now get their tickets delivered directly to them and can pay using cash or any other payment mode.
The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has introduced the pay-on-delivery (PoD) option which will allow passengers to book train tickets online and pay at the time of delivery.
The tickets can be booked through the IRCTC website or mobile app according to a senior official.
With this measure, customers who book through travel agents or visit railway reservation counters for tickets can switch to the online medium and book tickets from the comfort of their homes. The tickets will then be delivered at your home.
So far, customers were using internet banking, credit and debit cards to pay for their bookings.
For getting PoD as a payment option, the customer will have to do a one-time registration by supplying Aadhaar or PAN card details.
PoD charges shall be Rs 90 plus sales tax for transactions up to Rs 5,000 and Rs 120 plus tax for transactions over Rs 5,000, the report says.
However, in case of refusal or cancellation before delivery, the customer will have to pay the delivery and cancellation charges.
The service will be initially available five days before the departure date and will cover over 4000 pin codes in more than 600 cities and towns as per a report in The Times of India.
The Railways has been making attempts to become more customer-friendly.
Earlier, the Indian Railways had announced that passengers will not have to pay any service charge on payment through debit/credit cards while buying tickets at the railway platform from June 1. Up till then, customers had to pay Rs 30 service charge on all tickets bought at the counter.