The Union Railway Budget on Thursday proposed to provide travellers the option of buying travel insurance. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, in his budget speech, said the government is working with insurance companies on the issue.
“There is a continuous effort on our part to ensure safe and secure travel for our passengers, yet untoward incidents do occur. To minimise the financial loss to passengers from such events, we are working with insurance companies to offer optional travel insurance for rail journeys at the time of booking,” Mr Prabhu said. While insurance companies welcomed the move as it will increase insurance penetration, they also point out that delivery of services would be key for the success of the plan.
“People using the rail route to travel to various destinations in India are equally susceptible to accidents and other problems, similar to any kind of long-distance travel by any other mode of transport. Hence travel insurance while booking a rail journey would highly benefit travellers,” said M Ravichandran, President, Insurance, Tata AIG General Insurance.
