New Delhi (Agency): Indian Railways’ indigenous Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system, “Kavach,” is making a significant impact on railway safety. The system is designed to enhance train operation safety by assisting the train driver in maintaining specified speed limits. If the train driver fails to follow these limits, Kavach intervenes by automatically applying the brakes. Furthermore, it aids in ensuring the safe operation of trains during bad weather.
Kavach was first trialed on passenger trains in February 2016. The success of these trials and a positive safety assessment by an independent party led to the approval of three firms for the supply of Kavach in 2018-19. By July 2020, the system was adopted as the National ATP system.
Currently, Kavach is operational on 1,465 route kilometers and 121 locomotives across four states: Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra.
Looking ahead, tenders for Kavach have been awarded for the Delhi – Mumbai & Delhi – Howrah corridors, a total of approximately 3,000 route kilometers. The work is in progress across multiple states including West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Maharashtra.
Indian Railways is also in the process of preparing a Detailed Project Report (DPR) and a detailed estimate for the implementation of Kavach across another 6,000 route kilometers. Presently, there are three Indian Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) approved for Kavach, with efforts underway to develop more vendors to enhance the capacity and scale up the implementation of the system.
The cost of providing trackside and station equipment of Kavach is approximately ₹ 50 Lakhs per kilometer, and the cost for equipping a locomotive with Kavach is around ₹ 70 lakh. The total expenditure on Kavach implementation so far stands at ₹ 351.91 Crores, with a budgetary allocation of ₹ 710.12 Crores for the year 2023-24.
Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who also oversees Communications and Electronic & Information Technology, shared these details in a written response to a question in the Lok Sabha today.