OREANDA-NEWS. March 15, 2012. The Federal Passenger Company, a subsidiary of Russian Railways, made a special offer to passengers, reported the press-centre of Russian Railways.

During 7 March 2012, passengers could buy tickets for seats and berths in carriage compartments at a 50% discount no earlier than 8 hours prior to the departure of trains on purely domestic routes. The discount made the cost of a ticket comparable to that of a seat in a second-class carriage.

Preliminary results suggest that many passengers took advantage of the Federal Passenger Company’s special holiday offer, with 244,000 tickets sold on trains departing on 7 March 2012, including 59,000 tickets for seats or berths in compartments. That amounts to more than 24% of the total number of tickets sold.

On the day of departure, 7 March, about 21,000 tickets were purchased for carriage compartments, which accounted for 35.6% of the total tickets sold for carriage compartments on 7 March.

On the day of the special offer, the number of passengers in the deregulated sector (carriage compartments) increased by 57% compared to last year.

More than 30% of ticket sales were bought on the day of departure, up from 17% in 2011.

The Open Joint Stock Company Federal Passenger Company plans to continue making similar special offers in the future.