The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) on Tuesday said ticketing services were not available on its website and mobile application due to technical reasons.
The public sector undertaking under the Union Ministry of Railways also informed that its technical team is working on resolving the issue.
"Due to technical reasons, the ticketing service is not available on IRCTC site and App. Technical team of CRIS is resolving the issue," the IRCTC said in a tweet.
"Our technical team is resolving the issue. We will notify as soon as the technical issue is fixed. Alternatively tickets can be booked through other B2C players like Amazon, Makemytrip etc," said the ticketing website of the Indian Railways.
Insurance Cover automatic now
Earlier, the IRCTC has changed the scheme to allow the option to opt out in for Rs 10 lakh personal accident insurance cover.
In other words, passengers booking their train tickets on the IRCTC portal are now automatically provided insurance cover for Rs 10 lakh, a senior insurance industry official told IANS preferring anonymity.
Those not wanting the insurance cover have to opt out by clicking the appropriate button.
Curiously, the premium charged for Rs10 lakh personal accident insurance cover is a paltry Re.0.35 paise. The policy covers death/disabilities/medical expenses due to a train accident during the travel.
The insurance cover is provided by two non-life insurers – SBI General Insurance Company Ltd and Liberty General Insurance Company Ltd.
According to the industry official, the change could be due to the tragic train accident in Odisha last month killing 288 passengers and injuring over 1,000. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) had told IANS that a total of 624 passengers were having insurance cover under the IRCTC travel accident insurance scheme.
A total of 22 claims totalling Rs 60.52 lakh were reported to the two insurers for disability and hospitalisation due to the Odisha train accident and no death claim has been lodged.
Five claims have been lodged with Liberty General Insurance of which the company has settled two claims for medical expenses of Rs 17,800 and three claims for Rs 6 lakh is pending.
In the case of SBI General Insurance, out of the 17 claims that have been lodged with the company for Rs 50.52 lakh towards disablement and medical expenses, the insurer has settled two claims for Rs 2.25 lakh.
The total number of pending claims with SBI General Insurance in connection with the Odisha train accident is 15 amounting to Rs. 48.27 lakh. It has rejected two claims as outpatient treatment expenses are not covered under policy.
Further if all the train passengers are offered the travel insurance cover, then the premium amount will further come down from 35 paise.
(With inputs from IANS)
