To avoid rush and ensure a hassle-free ticket booking experience during the upcoming peak festive seasons, the Ministry of Railways on Saturday said it has decided to formulate a ‘Round Trip Package’ offering discounted fares and rebate benefits.
The move aims to facilitate passengers, redistribute peak traffic over a wider period during festival seasons, and ensure optimum utilisation of trains in both directions, including special trains.
Scheme details and applicability
“It has been decided to formulate an experimental scheme named as Round Trip Package for festival rush on discounted fare,” the Railways Ministry stated.
According to the ministry, the scheme will apply to passengers who choose their return journey during a prescribed period. Under this plan, rebates will be available when tickets are booked for both the onward and return journey for the same set of passengers, with passenger details remaining identical for both legs.
Bookings open from August 14 for the advance reservation period (ARP) date of October 13.
Booking window and dates
“An onward ticket shall be booked first for the train start date between 13th October 2025 and 26th October 2025, and subsequently return journey ticket shall be booked by using the connecting journey feature for the train start date between 17th November and 1st December 2025,” the ministry stated.
The advance reservation period will not apply to the booking of the return journey.
Key conditions to avail benefits
- Booking is permissible only for confirmed tickets in both directions.
- A 20 per cent rebate will be granted on the base fare of the return journey only.
- Tickets must be booked for the same class and same origin-destination (O-D) pair for both onward and return travel.
- No fare refund will be allowed for tickets under this scheme.
- Applicable for all classes and all trains, including special trains (Trains on Demand), except those with Flexi fare.
- No modifications allowed in either journey once booked.
- No discounts, Rail Travel Coupons, voucher-based bookings, or passes will be admissible for the return journey.
Passengers can book tickets via both online and offline modes. However, both onward and return journey tickets must be booked using the same mode—either online or offline.
