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The Ministry of Railways has announced an experimental "Round Trip Package for Festival Rush" scheme aimed at easing passenger congestion and ensuring smoother travel during the upcoming festive season.
According to a Railway Board circular issued on August 8, 2025, the scheme offers a 20 per cent rebate on the base fare of the return journey for passengers booking confirmed tickets for both onward and return travel for the same set of passengers, class, and origin-destination pair. The initiative aims to redistribute crowding, facilitate hassle-free bookings, and enhance the utilisation of train services, including special trains, in both directions. Under the scheme, bookings will open on August 14, 2025, for onward journeys scheduled between October 13 and October 26, 2025. The corresponding return journey must be booked using the connecting journey feature for travel between November 17 and December 1, 2025. Advance reservation period norms will not apply to the return journey booking. The scheme will be valid across all classes and trains, except those operating with flexi-fare pricing, and will only apply to confirmed tickets. Both onward and return journey tickets must be booked using the same mode, either Internet (online) booking or counter booking at reservation offices. No additional fare collection will be performed if any arise during charting for these PNRs. No fare refund is permissible for tickets booked under this scheme. The scheme applies to all classes and trains, including special trains (on demand), except for trains with Flexi fare. It also does not allow any modifications or additional concessions to be permitted. The offer excludes the use of rail travel coupons, vouchers, passes, and PTOs for the discounted return trip. The Railway Board has directed zonal railways to ensure wide publicity through the press, media, and station announcements to inform passengers about the scheme. (ANI)
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