Siliguri, July 16: Booking train tickets just got easier.

All you have to do is log on to www.irctc.co.in, register yourself and book your tickets. Your order will be delivered at your doorstep within 72 hours.

The online booking service for Siliguri and Darjeeling, a joint effort of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, and the Central Railway Information System, starts from tomorrow.

One-time registration is free and a registered person can make a maximum of four transactions each month.

Concessions for children and senior citizens can also be availed through the online booking system.

The bookings can be made between 8 am and 10 pm on weekdays and 8 am and 2 pm on Sundays. and must be made at least three days before the date of journey.

All that one will have to pay for the service, available for all trains and all classes of tickets, is Rs 40 per ticket (not per head) for the sleeper class and Rs 60 per ticket (not per head) for upper class. A ticket can accommodate a maximum of six travellers. One has to have an account with banks that have the electronic funds transfer facility or have debit or credit card with Visa Electron or Mastercard.

“We have tied up with HDFC bank, ICICI, IDBI bank, Citibank and Bank of Punjab,” said A.S. Upadhyay, group general manager, Indian Railway Traffic Service.

“Once the ticket is delivered, the money will be debited from the account of the traveller’s bank account,” he added. “All queries regarding the status of tickets will be available on the Net through automatic e-mails. The tickets, which will be printed in Delhi, will be delivered at the person’s doorstep through courier service.”

Upadhyay said it would also be possible to know the status of the dispatched ticket through the online tracking system, which will track the despatch of the ticket from Delhi office till it is delivered.

Round the clock helplines — 011-23345500/23344787 — of the customer care centre at Delhi are other options that are open to the consumer.

There are already about 3.5-lakh registered users in 60 cities where the service has been launched. “About 2,000 tickets are booked through the online system,” Upadhyay said. “Our main aim is to upgrade hospitality services.”

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation also has plans to start multi-cuisine food plaza at New Jalpaiguri Station.