Indian Railways to give 20% off on return tickets under new ‘Round Trip Package’. Check eligibility and other conditions

To ease festival season rush and make booking smoother, the Ministry of Railways has introduced an experimental “Round Trip Package” scheme with discounted fares. The scheme aims to spread passenger traffic more evenly, improve use of trains in both directions, and apply to passengers who book their return journey within a set period.

In a statement, Ministry of Railways said, "In order to avoid rush, ensure hassle free booking as well as to facilitate passengers and redistribute the peak traffic for larger range during peak festival seasons and ensure both side utilization of trains including special trains, it has been decided to formulate an experimental scheme named as Round Trip Package for festival rush on discounted fare."

Eligibility criteria

Under the Indian Railways’ Round Trip Package scheme, the rebates will be applicable when booked for both onward and return journey for the same set of passengers. “Passenger details of return journey will be same as of onward journey,” it said.

When will ticket booking start?

Booking start date shall be 14.08.2025 for the ARP date 13th October 2025. 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 connecting journey feature for the train start date between 17th November and 1st December 2025. Advance reservation period will not be applicable for booking of return journey.

The above booking shall be permissible only for confirmed tickets in both directions, said the Ministry.

Rebate/discount offered

Total rebates of 20% shall be granted on base fare of return journey only. Booking under this scheme shall be for the same class and same O-D pair for both onward and return journey.

No refund

Under the scheme, no refund of fare shall be permissible for the tickets booked. "The above scheme shall be allowed for all classes and in all trains including special trains (Trains on demand) except trains having Flexi fare. No modification will be allowed on these ticket in either of the journey."

No discounts, Rail travel coupons, Voucher based bookings, Passes or PTOs etc. shall be admissible during return journey booking on concessional fare.

Both onward and return journey tickets must be booked using the same mode either, raiwlays said.