Train ticket insurance from October 27: Is it mandatory, what is the current premium, coverage and claim process?

The Supreme Court has directed Indian Railways to extend insurance coverage to passengers buying train tickets at station counters from October 27, 2026. At present, passengers can get this facility when making train travel reservations online by paying a nominal additional amount.

A bench of Justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and R Mahadevan pronounced the order on October 6, 2026, while hearing a petition filed in the aftermath of the Odisha train accident that happened in June 2023.

According to the apex court's order, all tickets sold offline must be covered by travel insurance from October 27. This is a mandatory direction to the railways, rather than an optional facility that passengers can independently choose.

Travel insurance is currently optional for passengers who are booking tickets online through the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation's (IRCTC) web portal or mobile app.

The insurance cover costs 45 paise per passenger, inclusive of taxes, and is currently unavailable for tickets booked at railway counters.

However, the premium payable for counter bookings is yet to be confirmed and may differ from the online rate.

The final process for issuing insurance certificates, identifying insured passengers and handling claims for counter-booked tickets will also depend on the mechanism implemented by the authorities.

“Making insurance mandatory for all train travellers is a welcome step towards strengthening passenger safety and financial protection in India. The Supreme Court 's decision strengthens the importance of travel insurance and recognises it as an essential safeguard rather than an optional add-on," said Manas Kapoor, Business Head of Travel Insurance at Policybazaar.

Opting for travel insurance gives you coverage against specified losses arising from train accidents and certain other incidents during the journey. Under the current online scheme, the coverage amounts are as follows:

However, Supreme Court's recent directive does not mean that every injury or incident will automatically qualify for the maximum insurance payout. Claims will remain subject to the policy's coverage terms and applicable conditions.

If some unfortunate incident happens while a passenger is travelling, the individual or their families should retain their tickets and relevant travel records, along with medical documents and other evidence required for a claim.

They should also check the policy terms and claim procedure once the Railways announces the arrangements for insurance coverage on offline bookings.

Travel insurance is also not applicable for children under five years, for whom a ticket has to be booked without a berth or seat. It is applicable for children between 5-11 years, for whom the ticket can be booked with or without a berth.

When any category of passenger opts for insurance, the claim and the liability shall be between the insured and the insurance company.

For about a decade, Livemint—News Desk has been a credible source for authentic and timely news, and well-researched analysis on national news, business, personal finance, corporates, politics and geopolitics. We bring the latest updates on all the listed companies on BSE and NSE, startups, mutual funds, Union ministries, geopolitics, and untapped human interest stories from around the world, helping our readers to stay informed on the latest developments around the globe. Our Coverage Areas 1. Companies: Comprehensive news and analysis on listed and unlisted companies, corporate announcements, corporate chatter, C-suite, business trends, hiring alerts, layoffs, work-life balance, world's top billionaires and richest and more. 2. Personal finance: Insights into mutual funds, small savings schemes like - PPF, SSY, post office savings scheme, stock to watch, personal loans, credit cards, top bank FDs, real estate, income tax and more. 3. Politics: Comprehensive coverage of general elections, state elections and bypolls, Lok Sabha, Vidhan Sabha, Parliament, PMO, PIB, finance ministry, home ministry, among other union ministries and government departments. 4. National News: From metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai, and e to untapped stories from rural India, we cover human interest, health, education, crime and courts, and law and order, among other areas of public interest. 5. Economy: In-depth analysis of India's macro and micro-economic indicators like- GDP, inflation, forex, fiscal deficit, current account deficit, interest rate cycle, economic recovery, RBI circulars, indirect taxes, GST, Insolvency and Bankruptcy imports, exports and everything that impacts Indian economy. 6. Geopolitics: Well-rounded and deeply researched coverage on US News, Oval Office European Union, Ukraine Russia War, middle-east crisis, royal families and global leaders like - Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, Xi Jinping and premiers of other leading economies in the world. Meet the Team 1. Gulam Jeelani, Political Affairs Editor 2. Sugam Singhal, Senior Assistant Editor 3. Chanchal, Assistant Editor 4. Sanchari Ghosh, Chief Content Producer 5. Pratik Prashant Mukane, Chief Content Producer 6. Sayantani Biswas, Chief Content Producer 7. Ravi Hari, Deputy Chief Content Producer 8. Garvit Bhirani, Deputy Chief Content Producer 9. Akriti Anand, Senior Content Producer 10. Jocelyn Felix Fernandes, Senior Content Producer 11. Swastika Das Sharma, Content Producer 12. Mausam Jha, Content Producer 13. Riya R Alex, Trainee Content Producer

Get Latest real-time updates

Catch all the Instant Personal Loan, Business Loan, Business News, Money news, Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.

More

✕

Wait for it…

Oops! Looks like you have exceeded the limit to bookmark the image. Remove some to bookmark this image.