New Delhi: Your hotel booking woes may be over. You can dial 139,the railway inquiry number, also to book hotel rooms in any part of the country.

Till now, 139 number was meant for knowing timing of train arrivals, departures, and seat/berth reservation availability and confirmation of the same. Now the same number can be used for booking your hotel rooms across the country.

"This is a value added service which railways wants to provide for its customers. We are finalising the basic modalities to expand the 139 service," said a senior Indian Railway catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) official and "we are in discussion with the call centres to facilitate the caller booking hotels by dialling the number."

"We have identified about 82 prominent destinations and about 24 hotels to begin with where rooms can be booked through this service. We are signing agreements with some major chain of hotels, including the Taj Group and Ginger hotels", said the official.

"The payment modalities are being worked out. There are options of cash payment and also through credit cards. The module is going to be finalised soon as we want to avail the forthcoming tourist season," the official added.

With rapid growth in domestic tourism industry, the railways has geared up to lure tourists in a big way. 

Source : PTI