For booking railway tickets, more and more people are turning to the internet. But those without access to the net still have to go to the nearest railway ticket booking counter. Now the railways have launched a van -- "mobile ticketing van", which will visit universities, courts and panchayats.

The van issues reserved and unreserved train tickets in the national capital. The cost of the tickets is the same as that available at passenger reservation system (PRS) counters.  Plus, the van also provides ticket refund facility. What’s more, people can even purchase 'Trains at a glance' and the railway time table from the van.

Currently, the operating area of the van is restricted to the localities but once successful the services will be extended further, said Northern Railway chief public relations officer Anant Swarup. As of now there is only one van as the scheme is under the pilot project of the railways. As per requirement, the number of vans will be increased, he added.

The van was rolled out on January 12 this year and currently the Northern Railways are able to sell total 35 to 40 tickets per day. Besides, earning through services of this van is about 16,000 per day.

The van moves between 10.30 am and 4.30 pm to different localities. The days have been fixed for the areas such as for Monday the vehicle moves to Mela Ground at Chittaranjan Park, on Tuesday it provides service at Four Square Mall near Vasant Kunj, Wednesday is the turn for residents of Dwarka, on Thursday it goes to Mehrauli, on Friday the van can be seen parked near Malviya Nagar bus terminal and on Saturday it is taken to Kalkaji near Lotus temple. Sunday is the day for maintenance of the van.