IRCTC alert: This free Indian Railways facility ends today; know how it will affect you

Indian Railways has stopped giving free travel insurance to passengers from today. In the wake of demonetisation, the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) had started giving free insurance in a bid to promote digital transactions. However, now if you want to avail the service, then you will have to pay out 68 paise premium as insurance. Also, the insurance can be availed only on tickets books online. The IRCTC is now giving passengers two choices - either to opt-in or opt-out. Passengers booking tickets through computerised passenger reservation system (PRS) cannot opt for the insurance facility. 

In emails sent to users Friday, IRCTC said, "Users who would like to opt for Passenger Travel Insurance will need to click a 'Yes' option provided for Travel Insurance in Passenger Reservation Form.

All passengers with age of 5 years and above will be eligible for Travel Insurance."

The premium on IRCTC insurance is non-refundable.

What IRCTC insurance offers

The IRCTC insurance provides a maximum cover of Rs 10 lakh in the case of the death of a passenger, Rs 7.5 lakh if the person becomes disabled during a train mishap, Rs 2 lakh for injury and Rs 10,00 for transportation of mortal remains. 

Before demonetisation, the railways used to charge 60 paise per passenger for insurance, reports say. 

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Any child below 5 years of age is not covered under the IRCTC insurance. The IRCTC had tied up with ICICI Lombard General Insurance, Royal Sundaram General Insurance and Shriram General Insurance for providing travel insurance. It used to pay 92 paise per commuter to the insurance firm. The amount adds up to Rs 1 including tax. Now, a traveller will have to bear this expense.