Festival discount: Railways to start round trip offer

NEW DELHI: In a bid to manage heavy passenger rush during the Diwali-Chhath festival season, the railways has said it will introduce a "round trip package" scheme with 20% discount on base fare of tickets on a pilot.The scheme can be availed by passengers who book their return journey within a set time period and for the same class with the same origin and destination. The scheme is applicable to all trains, excluding 'flexi fare' trains, meaning passengers taking Rajdhani, Tejas, Duronto, Shatabdi and Vande Bharat services can't avail the discount.Ticket booking for the scheme will start on Aug 14 for travel between Oct 13 and Oct 26.

Subsequently, return journey tickets can be booked using the connecting journey feature for the train start date between Nov 17 and Dec 1. The mandatory norms of 60 days for advance reservation period will not be applicable for booking return ticket.This initiative is being carried out to avoid rush, ensure hassle-free booking, redistribute peak traffic during the festival season and ensure both side utilisation of trains, including special trains, the ministry said.

It said the discount will be only for round trip. There will be no refund of fares for cancelling tickets booked under the scheme, and passengers can't make any modification in a ticket.The provisions of no return of fare, even partial refund, for cancelling such tickets, these tickets have to be booked months before scheduled travel, and discount can be availed only when one gets a confirmed ticket could discourage people from availing the scheme, a former senior railway official said.