Though railway mishaps are not regular in India, there are still a number of reports every year where an accident, robbery or a terrorist attack may have to happen. To give some sense of security to the passengers, the Indian Railway has come up with a very affordable insurance policy. The ministry invited tenders from different Insurance companies and have selected three of them to proceed with the setup.
Shriram General Insurance, ICICI Lombard General Insurance and Royal Sundaram General Insurance will now work with Indian Railway to provide insurance to all the passengers. As of now, the insurance is only available for the passengers who book a ticket from online portal of IRCTC but on later stages it will be extended to all travelers.
In a statement, Railway said that there will be no discrimination on the basis of class, destination, distance or any other aspect. The insurance price will remain the same i.e. Rs.0.92 per person per ticket.
The passenger can get a maximum compensation of Rs.10 lakh in case of any mishap. During the bidding, Shriram General Insurance opted for the lowest bid that was Rs.0.92. The other two companies will have to match Shriram General Insurance’s price.
What all will be covered?
In the case of death, the maximum coverage of Rs.10 lakh will be provided to the family. For permanent partial disability, the coverage extends to Rs 7.5 lakh. For hospital expenses, the coverage would be up to Rs 2 lakh. In addition, the insurance would provide Rs 10,000 for transportation of mortal remains of the deceased. Apart from rail mishaps, the coverage would take care of terrorist attacks and accidental fall of a passenger from a train and normal accidents, riots, robbery, and dacoity.
Points to remember:
- The insurance facility is only available for the citizens of India. Any person from a foreign country will not be eligible for the insurance.
- It is not available for the kids below 5 years of age.
- The insurance is optional. If you do not want to opt for it, you can.
- In case one passenger under one PNR gets the insurance, all the passengers under same PNR have to get it.
- The policy information will be sent via SMS and email.
- You need to put the nominee information on the insurance company website. If you fail to do so, the claim settlement will be done with the legal heirs.
- The insurance policy will cover Death, Permanent Total Disability, Permanent Partial Disability, and Hospitalization Expenses for Injury and Transportation of mortal remains following Rail Accident or untoward incident. Each case will be treated separately.
- In the case of cancellation of any train, if the passenger opts for the alternate mode of transport arranged by the Railway, the insurance cover will apply on it as well.
- In case the train gets diverted to a new route, the insurance will be applicable on the new route as well.
- Once the premium is paid, insurance cannot be canceled.
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Though there is no data available to compare such insurance policies with the rest of the world but this is definitely the cheapest one. The new insurance scheme by railway is in the line with the insurance schemes run by the central government that is Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana and Suraksha Bima Yojana in which the person has to pay a premium as low as Rs.12.
The latest Kanpur train accident is a fine example of how this insurance policy can help the passengers. Out of 695 passengers, 128 had opted for the insurance and out of these, 78 were on the train at the time of the accident. All of them will receive compensation in case it is applicable as per the injuries or death.
