NEW DELHI: Are you planning a train journey during the upcoming rush period? The Ministry of Railways has introduced, for the first time, a round-trip package scheme offering a 20% discount to passengers booking return journey tickets. The scheme will initially run on an experimental basis.
The Ministry announced on Saturday that bookings for all reserved classes under this scheme will start on August 14 for onward journeys scheduled between October 13 and October 26, excluding Rajdhani, Duronto, and Shatabdi trains, which operate under the flexi-fare system. No refund of fare will be permissible for tickets booked under this scheme.
According to a commercial circular issued on Friday evening, the scheme has been formulated to avoid rush, ensure hassle-free booking, facilitate passengers, redistribute peak traffic during the festival season, and ensure both-way utilisation of trains, including special trains.
Named the ‘Round-Trip Package’ (RTP), the scheme will offer a 20% discount on tickets booked for travel between October 13 and October 26, with the return journey scheduled between November 17 and December 1 on the same train. The discount will apply only to tickets booked from August 14.
The Ministry clarified that the discount will not be applicable on flexi-fare trains such as Rajdhani, Shatabdi, and Duronto, or on others having the flexi-fare system. Booking will begin on August 14 for the Advance Reservation Period (ARP) starting October 13, 2025.
As per the scheme, onward tickets must be booked first for travel between October 13 and October 26, 2025, followed by booking the return journey using the connecting journey feature for travel between November 17 and December 1, 2025. The ARP applicable to onward journeys will not apply to the return journey booking.
Rebates will only be granted when both onward and return journeys are booked for the same set of passengers. Passenger details for the return journey must match those of the onward journey. The scheme’s key condition is that no refund will be allowed for tickets booked under it, and the 20% rebate will apply only to the base fare of the return journey tickets.
No discount, rail travel coupons, voucher-based bookings, passes, or PTO will be admissible during return journey booking on concessional fares. Both onward and return journey tickets must be booked using the same mode — either online through the internet or in person at the reservation offices.