Railways Pilots 1.5x Round-Trip Fare for Parcel Trains

Indian Railways has started a one-year pilot that lets parcel aggregators book a round trip on parcel trains for 1.5 times the one-way fare, The Economic Times reported on 19 October 2026. According to the report, the offer was introduced through a circular issued that Monday and takes effect immediately.

The new formula works out to a 25 per cent cut in the combined freight charge for a round trip. It is not a general reduction across all railway parcel bookings.

Which routes are covered

The scheme applies to all existing and future routes under the Joint Parcel Product - Rapid Cargo Service (JPP-RCS). The one exception is the route between Patel Nagar in Delhi and Chitpur in Kolkata, where a separate discounted-freight pilot is already running, the report said.

While the pilot is in force, the graded return-journey discounts of 5 to 10 per cent that the JPP-RCS policy offered earlier, depending on volume, stand suspended.

Why the Railways is doing this

According to ET, the Railway Board wants to fill JPP-RCS trains in the return direction and pull traffic away from road. Asking aggregators to commit to a round trip upfront, in exchange for a lower combined charge, is meant to make return bookings more attractive.

A senior official told ET that "the offer will widen the push to bring more road cargo to rail."

The timing is deliberate. The pilot arrives as businesses stock up for the Diwali to Christmas festive season, when parcel volumes usually rise.

Earlier experiments

This is a wider version of an earlier trial. ET cited an internal Railways study saying a March 2025 pilot on selected routes had offered a 50 per cent return-trip rate, with the round trip charged at 1.35 times the applicable scale.

Parcel income is still a small part of the Railways' freight earnings. ET reported that parcel revenue was Rs 2,064.83 crore in 2024-25, up 2.8 per cent from Rs 2,009.30 crore a year earlier, or roughly 1 per cent of goods revenue.

Why it matters for transporters and logistics businesses

• Parcel aggregators and e-commerce logistics companies with two-way volumes on JPP-RCS routes may be able to cut line-haul costs over the next year.
• Road operators running parallel to these parcel trains could face sharper price competition on long-haul legs, but the scheme also creates feeder and delivery work at both ends.
• Small fleet owners can tie up with aggregators for pick-up and drop trips around railway terminals. List your business among transporters on BizGrowthUp and compare logistics software providers for booking and tracking.

Source: The Economic Times