Railways To Offer 20% Discount On Round-Trip Package During Festive Time: Details Inside

The Ministry of Railways announced a 20 per cent discount on tickets for passengers commuting during the upcoming festive season. In order to redistribute the peak of railway traffic during the festival time and make ticket bookings trouble-free and journeys smooth, the Railway Ministry is offering a rebate on ticket bookings. According to the Ministry of Railways' commercial circular, dated August 8, 2025, "Under this scheme, rebates shall be applicable when booked for both onward and return journey for the same set of passengers. Passenger details of the return journey will be the same as the onward journey." Notably, the total 20 per cent rebate will be applicable only on the base fare of the return journey.

Key Details

Here are the key details:

• These bookings will start on August 14, 2025, for travel dates (ARP - advance reservation period date) from October 13, 2025. First, the onward ticket will be booked for train start dates between October 13 and October 26, 2025. After that, the return tickets will be booked for train start dates from November 17 to December 1, 2025. The APR will not apply to the return journeys. To avail of the discount, users need to book return tickets using the ‘connecting journey feature’.

• These bookings will be available only for the confirmed tickets of the onward and return journeys.

• Under this scheme, the bookings will be for the same class (Sleeper, AC 3-Tier, or so) and for the same Origin-Destination (O-D) pair for both the onward and return journey.

• The scheme is available for all trains, including the special trains, and all classes. However, the trains with Flexi fare are included in the scheme.

• Other benefits, such as railway travel coupons, voucher-based bookings, privilege ticket order (PTO), passes, etc., will not be allowed for concessional fare ticket bookings.

• Once booked, no modification will be allowed in these tickets, whether it is for the onward or return journey.

• Per the circular, the tickets can be booked online or offline at the reservation counters; the mode should be the same for tickets for both ways (onwards and return).

• Even if there is a rise in fare during charting for such Passenger Name Record (PNR), no additional fare will be collected on these tickets.

So, as the festive season starts, plan your journey accordingly to travel seamlessly.