CHENNAI: With the railways extending Rs 10 lakh insurance coverage to tickets booked at reservation counters across the country from Tuesday, around 30,000-35,000 passengers, who travel on nearly 14,500 tickets booked at counters daily in Tamil Nadu, are expected to benefit from the move. Around 11% of reserved tickets in the state are booked at counters, while the remaining 89% are booked through the IRCTC portal and the RailOne mobile app.
The insurance facility is optional and available to those who pay the premium and ticket fare digitally. Passengers paying the fare in cash will not be eligible. The move is expected to make railway reservation counters completely cashless within a month or two, said sources.
Passengers opting for the insurance will also have to provide their mobile phone numbers to facilitate the transmission of relevant policy details, according to an order issued by the railway board.
The optional travel insurance facility, introduced on September 1, 2016, at a premium of Rs 0.45, was hitherto available only for e-tickets booked online. It is now being extended to paper tickets in compliance with the Supreme Court’s directions dated October 6.
Southern Railway officials said the shift to online reservations gathered pace after tatkal bookings were made available through the IRCTC mobile app in 2017. In 2022, around 78% to 80% of reserved tickets across Southern Railway were booked online. The share has now risen to 89% in Tamil Nadu. “On an average, around 14,500 tickets are booked at reservation counters in Tamil Nadu every day, out of a total of 1.32 lakh tickets available for booking,” an official said.
The insurance provides compensation of Rs 10 lakh in the event of death or permanent disability due to an untoward incident during train travel, Rs 7.5 lakh for partial disability and up to Rs 2 lakh towards hospitalisation expenses for injuries. Naina Masilamani, former member of the Divisional Railway Users’ Consultative Committee (DRUCC), Chennai, said the insurance facility should also be extended to general-class passengers.
“Several judgments by railway tribunals and high courts have held that general-class passengers are also eligible for compensation. Extending the insurance facility to them would reduce the number of compensation claims filed before tribunals and high courts,” he said.
Digital push
Nearly 14,500 tickets are booked at counters daily in TN
The optional insurance premium is 45 paise
Insurance is available only if fare and premium are paid digitally