As per the initial indications, only a small number of passengers of the two passenger trains have opted for the travel accident insurance cover while booking through the IRCTC portal.

Replying to a list of questions sent to SBI General Insurance’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kishore Kumar Poludasu, a company spokesperson told IANS: “As per data available, SBI General has covered 351 passengers.”

According to the SBI General Insurance official, a few claims for injury have been lodged with the company by the passengers of the two trains.

On the other hand, Roopam Asthana, Wholetime Director and CEO of Liberty General Insurance did not respond to the questions sent to him by IANS.

In that tragic accident, 288 passengers were killed and more than 1,000 others injured.

The IRCTC has selected SBI General Insurance and Liberty General Insurance to offer the travel accident insurance cover.

Those who reserveed tickets through IRCTC booking portal can opt for accident insurance for Rs 10 lakhs by paying a paltry premium of Re 0.35 paise.

The policy covers death/disabilities/medical expenses due to a train accident during the travel.

Both the companies declined to answer as to how the number of policies are divided between the two insurers when the tickets are booked.

Similarly the top officials of the two companies remained silent when queried about covering all the passengers which in turn would bring down the premium amount.

An industry official said the two insurers get an equal number of policies while the passengers book their tickets through the IRCTC portal. However, the number of passengers covered under a policy/ticket would differ.

“Even though they would like to have an insurance cover, not many passengers while booking a Tatkal train ticket on the IRCTC portal will be inclined to click on the insurance cover box as their main goal to reserve a ticket as every second counts during that time,” the insurance official said.

Further if all the train passengers are offered the travel insurance cover then the premium amount will further come down from 35 paise.

According to IRCTC’s regulatory filing of investor call transcript, during the last quarter of FY23, a total number of 10.44 crore tickets have been booked and 14.54 crores passengers have been booked on these tickets.

For the entire FY23, IRCTC had earned Rs.802 crore revenue from the internet ticketing service.

A total of 43 crore tickets were booked on IRCTC portal, the company said.

And in the last quarter of FY23, the convenience fee that IRCTC had earned was nearly Rs197 crore.

When the insurance scheme was started in 2016, the premium was 0.92 paise per passenger with Shriram General Insurance Company Ltd, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd, and Royal Sundaram General Insurance Co. Ltd being the insurers.

Source: IANS

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According to an official statement, the Members of Parliament for the Ministry of Railways planned services on Indian Railways with an agenda to cater to services on Indian Railways and induce station development on Indian Railways under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme. It added that the meeting was chaired by Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and attended by several MPs.

As per the statement, the members were informed that approximately 1.8 crore passengers travel daily on Indian Railways and that all efforts were being made to ensure the provision and availability of adequate catering facilities in trains and stations for the travelling passengers.

It added that Railways had undertaken an in-depth analysis of catering services and initiated structural reforms to bring in a paradigm shift in the catering business in the last few years.

The statement also said the catering services were given to passengers through either static or mobile units, adding that there were 473 pairs of trains with pantry cars/mini pantries and 706 pairs of trains with a train-side vending facility.

It added that there were 9,342 minor and 582 Major Static units of Indian Railways, including the Jan Aahaars outlets, Food Plazas and Refreshment Rooms. “Indian Railways has a catering policy, with the objective of providing quality food to rail passengers by unbundling catering services of trains and creating a primary distinction between food preparation and food distribution,” it said.

It added that the ministry had given IRCTC flexibility to customise and decide the menu of catering services in trains to include all items of regional cuisine, seasonal delicacies, and food items per the preferences of different groups of passengers. E-catering scheme has also been introduced on Indian railways.

It also said that cashless transaction facilities were provided on mobile and static catering units. The third-Party Audit of catering services was undertaken to ensure quality and service standards.

It added that frequent and unannounced inspections were used to monitor and control the catering services. It said three stations — Rani Kamlapati in Madhya Pradesh, Gandhinagar in Gujarat, and Sir M Vishweshwaraiah Railway Station in Karnataka — have been modernised so far.

“Based on the experience gained from these three stations, the Amrit Bharat Station scheme was launched to develop stations on Indian Railways. This scheme envisages the development of stations on a continuous basis with a long-term approach,” it added.

Source: ANI

The post Indian Railways To Revamp 1,275 Stations Under Amrit Bharat Scheme appeared first on Rma News: Latest News, Live Breaking News, Today News, Political News Updates.

While the current version of Vande Bharat Express will be the Chair Car variant for travel between cities located within a distance of 150-600 km, there will also be Vande Bharat Metro for cities within 100-150 km range serving as a Urban train connectivity network and also sleeper version of the Vande Bharat Express, covering distances above 600 km, replacing Rajdhani Express in the longer run. 

Among these, Indian Railways is further working to increase the speed of the Vande Bharat sleeper version that can touch a speed of 220 kmph, 40 kmph more than that of the chair car version of the current generation of Vande Bharat trains. The semi-high speed trains will be made using aluminium, instead of steel, which will reduce the weight of the train, hence increasing the speed.

While the top speed of the sleeper version of Vande Bharat trains will be 220 kmph, making them the fastest trains in India, it will run at a speed of 200 km per hour on the tracks said an Railway official earlier. This also means, once on tracks, the new sleeper Vande Bharat trains will replace Delhi-Meerut RRTS trains as the fastest train in India. The RRTS has a top speed of 180 kmph as well.

The current gen Vande Bharat Express has a top speed of 180 kmph, but only does 160 kmph (on certain sections) due to safety constraints. The Railways has issued a tender for 400 Vande Bharat trains. Some of the initial lot of such trains could also be sleeper versions of the indigenously made trains, according to officials. Four major domestic and foreign companies have come forward for the production.

According to the plan, the first 200 Vande Bharat trains will have the seating arrangement on the lines of Shatabdi Express and will be designed to travel at a speed of 180 km per hour. 

In the second phase, 200 Vande Bharat trains will be sleepers and they will be made of aluminium. “The second version of the sleeper Vande Bharat trains will run at a maximum speed of 200 km per hour. For this, the tracks of Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Kolkata railways are being repaired, signal system, bridges are being fixed, and fencing work is going on,” an official said, reported PTI. 

Source: Bureau

The post Vande Bharat Express To Soon Get 220 Kmph Top Speed, Indian Railways Working On New Trains appeared first on Rma News: Latest News, Live Breaking News, Today News, Political News Updates.