25 lakh Railway passengers opt for travel insurance

The South Central Railway (SCR) is getting overwhelming response to the travel insurance scheme that was introduced on September 1, 2016, covering death or disability arising out of various untoward incidents.

Over 10.5 lakh passengers travel on SCR every day, out of which 1.25 lakh passengers travel with a reserved ticket. About 60 per cent of the tickets are booked online which translates to 75,000 tickets per day.Over 25 lakh passengers opted for railway travel insurance in 33 days of the launch. The travel insurance entails a premium of 92 paise and provides insurance cover up to Rs 10 lakh.

Presently, the insurance is available for those who book tickets online on Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) website, irrespective of the category or class of ticket.The insurance cover includes dacoity, rioting, arson and includes shoot out and to passengers travelling on a diverted route as well. The scheme offers travellers compensation of up to Rs 10 lakh in the event of death and up to Rs 2 lakh for hospitalisation expenses.

In case of permanent partial disability, it provides Rs 7.6 lakh. The



insurance cover is provided by ICICI Lombard General Insurance, Royal Sundaram and Shriram General.Enthused with the overwhelming response to the scheme, IRCTC plans to extend the travel insurance to season ticket travellers with a premium of Rs 200-300 with an annual coverage. Presently, the insurance does not cover passengers travelling on suburban trains.

IRCTC Chairman and Managing Director AK Manocha said that the scheme was received very well by rail passengers as one crore passengers opted for the optional travel insurance in the past month. On an average, the IRCTC site gets 3.2 million daily user log-ins and an average of 5,55,000 tickets booked a day. According to industry pundits, the travel insurance scheme is a boon to consumers.

A senior railway officer says, “A family of six or even 10 would not mind spending Rs 1 per person and 99 per cent of passengers booking online would definitely press the yes button to the option that pops up asking if he/she were interested to opt for the insurance. If one were to see the statistics of previous years, about 15,000 people die in rail mishaps every year.