New Delhi: Railway properties worth Rs 313 crore were damaged due to several train accidents in the past five years, the government informed the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. "Total cost of damages to railway property such as rolling stock/tracks etc, in consequential train accidents during the past five years (from April 2019 to March 2024) have been assessed as Rs 313 crore," Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said in a written reply.
The minister was responding to questions on the total financial loss incurred by the government due to train accidents raised by five MPs -- S Venkatesan, K Subbarayan, PC Gaddigoudar, Selvaraj V and Balwant Baswant Wankhade -- from different political parties. Responding to questions regarding the number of victims who had availed of insurance through e-tickets, Vaishnaw said 22 claims were registered under the Optional Travel Insurance Scheme during the period from November 1, 2019, to October 31, 2024.
"No death claims were registered during the period from 01.11.2019 to 31.10.2024 with any of the insurance companies under the Optional Travel Insurance Scheme," he added. The ministry launched the scheme on September 1, 2016, for passengers who booked e-tickets at a premium of Rs 0.92 per passenger. However, to promote digital/cashless transactions, it was made free of cost from December 10, 2016, to all confirmed/RAC passengers buying online tickets from IRCTC.
Vaishnaw said passengers directly filled out their nominations on the websites of insurance agencies and settled the claims directly with them. "As a consequence of various safety measures taken over the years, there has been a steep decline in the number of accidents. Consequential train accidents have reduced from 135 in 2014-15 to 40 in 2023-24," Vaishnaw added.
