Railway passengers in Tamil Nadu who book tickets at reservation counters will now be eligible for a Rs 10 lakh insurance cover, following a nationwide rollout of the scheme that took effect on Tuesday. The initiative is expected to benefit between 30,000 and 35,000 passengers daily across the state.
Currently, approximately 14,500 tickets are issued at reservation counters in Tamil Nadu each day, representing about 11% of the total reserved tickets in the state. The remaining 89% are processed through the IRCTC portal or the RailOne mobile app. To qualify for the insurance, passengers must pay both the ticket fare and the premium digitally; cash transactions are excluded from the coverage.
According to a Railway Board directive, passengers choosing this optional insurance must provide a mobile number to receive policy documentation. Officials indicated that this requirement is part of a broader push to transition reservation counters to a fully cashless system within the next two months.
The insurance scheme, which carries a premium of 45 paise, was originally launched for e-tickets on September 1, 2016. Its expansion to include counter-booked paper tickets follows a directive from the Supreme Court issued on October 6. The policy provides Rs 10 lakh in compensation for death or permanent disability resulting from train accidents, Rs 7.5 lakh for partial disability, and up to Rs 2 lakh for injury-related hospitalization.
Southern Railway data shows a significant shift toward digital booking, with the share of online reservations in Tamil Nadu rising to 89%. An official noted that out of 1.32 lakh total tickets booked daily in the state, only 14,500 are handled at physical counters.
Naina Masilamani, a former member of the Divisional Railway Users’ Consultative Committee (DRUCC) in Chennai, welcomed the move but urged the railways to include general-class passengers in the scheme. "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.
