Indian Railways Fast-Tracks Kavach Safety System Expansion

Indian Railways is accelerating the deployment of its indigenous Kavach train protection system, aiming to enhance rail safety across the country. The system, which assists in automatic braking and safety during inclement weather, is part of a broader safety and infrastructure transformation, including high-speed rail and environmental sustainability initiatives.

Indian Railways is set to rapidly expand the deployment of its indigenous train protection system, Kavach, across the country's vast rail network, Anil Kumar Khandelwal, Member (Infrastructure) of the Railway Board at the Ministry of Railways, announced on Friday. Speaking at FICCI's Future Rail India 2024 conference, Khandelwal disclosed that Kavach's final specifications were settled on July 16.

"Now, we are launching it in a big way throughout the country," Khandelwal stated. He revealed that Kavach installation is complete across more than 1,400 kilometres and ongoing over 3,000 kilometres on the Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah routes. Bids for an additional 3,200 kilometres are invited, with another 5,000 kilometres to follow soon. Kavach, an indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system, offers high-level technological safety, ensuring automatic brake application if the loco pilot fails to operate within speed limits. It is also effective in adverse weather conditions.

The first passenger train trials started in February 2016, with three companies being approved for supply by 2018-19 after independent safety assessment. Kavach was adopted as a National Automatic Train Protection system in July 2020. Industries are being invited to participate widely in this safety initiative, with three firms already approved and eight more under review.

The urgency of rail safety was underscored by a tragic triple-train accident in Balasore, Odisha, last year, killing nearly 300 passengers and injuring around 1,000. The discussion at the FICCI conference also covered the GatiShakti Directorate's role in accelerating project delivery and infrastructure upgrades to increase Indian Railways' freight market share. Khandelwal noted that the railways are aiming to carry 3,000 million tonnes of freight by 2030-31, up from 1,600 million tonnes last year.

Khandelwal also emphasized environmental sustainability, announcing the rollout of the first hydrogen train this year, with plans to launch around 50 hydrogen trains by 2047. Additionally, India's inaugural bullet train on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor is expected to commence operations by 2027. The project has progressed steadily since its inception in November 2021.

At the same conference, Shantanu Roy, Chairman and Managing Director of BEML, highlighted the company's contribution, including supplying over 20,000 coaches to the railways and 2,000 metro cars. Roy announced that BEML is set to deliver India's first Vande Bharat sleeper train in the next few weeks.

(With inputs from agencies.)