As you book train tickets on the website or app of IRCTC (Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation), you will soon not need any third party vendor's bank card or cash wallet because IRCTC is set to launch its own payment aggregator known as IRCTC -iPay.

In a tweet shared on Wednesday, IRCTC announced that its own payment aggregator IRCTC-iPay will be available on irctc.co.in by August 18, which is nearly two months from now.The tweet also hints that IRCTC has already completed all the regulatory formalities in run up to the official launch in August.The PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) certificate has been granted to IRCTC, mentioned the tweet.

The IRCTC iPay provides all payment options such as Credit Card, Debit Card, International Card, Auto Debit, UPI, Wallets etc.It is noteworthy that one can also use BHIM app to buy train tickets via IRCTC.

This facility was introduced in December last year.SBI (State Bank of India) cardBesides iPay, IRCTC also offers IRCTC SBI card that enables customers to get up to 10 per cent value back on AC1, AC11, CC booking as SBI Card Travel Reward Points for ticket purchases at irctc.co.in.Through the IRCTC SBI Platinum Card, you can shop, dine, travel on your and earn one reward point for every Rs 125 spent on non-fuel retail purchases, including railway ticket purchases at irctc.co.in.

Customers can redeem all their reward points on irctc.co.in against railway ticket purchases (s).How to apply for IRCTC SBI Platinum CardCustomers need to send an SMS typing "RAIL" to 56767.

After that, a representative from SBI will contact him/her.

You can also visit "Apply Now" section of sbicard.com to apply for this card.IRCTC has been running special travel packages and trains across domestic and international destinations.

One can explore IRCTC Tourism's Buddhist Circuit Special Train package that includes an eight-day long itinerary, to places such as Bodhgaya, Nalanda, Rajgir, Varanasi, Samath, among others.

One can also plan a six-day trip to Russia or five day tour to Andaman or a six-day tour to Bhutan.