Indian Railways offers travel insurance in under 50 paise. Here’s how to avail it

Only Indian citizens who book their tickets using the IRCTC website or mobile are eligible to avail the insurance cover.

The Indian Railways now offers a travel insurance cover of Rs10 lakh at a near-zero premium of just 49 paise.

While passengers book train tickets using the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) website, they get an option to opt for ‘Travel Insurance’. If they click on it, all passengers booked under one PNR (Passenger Name Record)are covered under the insurance scheme.

Who is eligible for travel insurance?

Only Indian citizens who book their tickets using the IRCTC website or mobile are eligible to avail the insurance cover. According to the IRCTC website, death, permanent total disability, permanent partial disability and hospitalization expenses for injury and transportation of mortal remains following a train accident or untoward incident are covered under the travel insurance policy.

The upper limit of the insurance cover is ₹10 lakh- ₹10 lakh for death or permanent total disability or any untoward incident, ₹7.5 lakh for permanent partial disability, ₹2 lakh for hospitalization expenses in case of injury (which is over and above the death or disability coverage) and Rs10,000 for the transportation of the deceased.

The insurance scheme, which is uniform for all classes, does not cover children below age of 5 years under the plan.

Here’s how to opt for IRCTC travel insurance

While booking the ticket, one needs to click on the ‘Travel insurance’ section to avail the insurance cover. An SMS and email about the policy information is then sent to the passenger directly by the insurance companies.

In the email, the insurance companies share a link to their site where the passengers are required to fill nomination details.

Bharti Axa General Insurance, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance and Shriram General Insurance are the three firms that provide rail insurances for ticket bookings via IRCTC website or app.

According to IRCTC, the isurance premium is non-refundable, even on wait-listed tickets, and the passengers can also not make any cancellations thereafter.

In case the passengers fail to fill in nomination details and a claim arises, the insurance companies contact the legal heirs for insurance settlement.