- Hon’ble Minster participates in demonstration of head-on collision avoidance by Kavach by travelling in the Locomotive
- KAVACH is the State-of-the-Art indigenously developed Train Protection system and a major step towards achieving “Atmanirbhar Bharat”
- Indian Railways plans to roll-out Kavach over its entire rail network
Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, Hon’ble Minister of Railways, Communication and Electronic & Information Technology inspected the working of ‘KAVACH’ (Indian Railways Indigenous Automatic Train Protection System) including on-site demonstration of Head-on Collision between Gullaguda – Chitgidda Railway stations on Lingampalli – Vikarabad section of Secunderabad Division in SCR today i.e., 04th March, 2022. Shri Vinay Kumar Tripathi, Chairman and CEO, Railway Board and Shri Sanjeev Kishore, General Manager, South Central Railway. Other senior officials from Railway Board and South Central Railway were also present on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, the Hon’ble Railway Minister stated that the indigenously developed automatic train protection system ‘KAVACH’ is a major milestone in the history of Indian Railways. Indian Railways is planning to implement KAVACH protection system to an extent of 2000 Kms during the current financial year on high density routes like New Delhi – Mumbai and New Delhi – Howrah routes. The system will be further extended to an additional 4,000 to 5,000 Kms from next financial year. The indigenously developed KAVACH system costs Rs. 40-50 lakh for each kilometre, whereas European models cost approximately Rs. 1.5-2 crs for each kilometre. He also stated that the KAVACH system is a state of the art electronic system with highest safety integrity level - 4 standards.
The Hon’ble Minister of Railways stated that the Kavach is a major step taken by Indian railways in taking forward Hon’ble Prime Minter of India’s initiative of Atmanirbhar Bharat. Indian Railways is planning to implement KAVACH protection system over its entire network at the earliest. He also stated that, 4G spectrum has been allocated to Indian Railways which will assist in further improving the reliability of train operations.
Today, the Hon’ble Minister of Railways undertook a first-hand demonstration of the working of Kavach. He observed how Kavach avoids Trains passing Signal at Danger, how train speed is automatically regulated while passing through loop lines, how rear-end collision of trains is automatically avoided. The highlight of today’s demonstration was the avoidance of the head-on collision by the Kavach without manual intervention. This was demonstrated between Gullaguda – Chitgidda Railway stations with the Hon’ble Minster of Railways travelling in the locomotive in one direction, while Chairman, Railway Board was travelling in the locomotive in opposite direction on the same track.
Indian Railways is fast expanding wings to connect the length and breadth of the country on the strength of an efficient and reliable Rail system. The technology imbibed advancement is focused to ensure enhanced safety in Train operations. As part of the same, the ‘KAVACH’ - a state of the art Automatic Train Protection system was developed by the Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) in collaboration with Indian Industry. South Central Railway has been closely associated with its implementation since the development stage and is facilitating trials to achieve the corporate objective of safety in train operations across Indian Railways. KAVACH is meant to provide protection by preventing trains to pass the Signal Passing at Danger, (SPAD) (Red) and avoid collision. It activates the train breaking system automatically if the driver fails to control the train as per the speed restrictions. In addition, it prevents collision between two Locomotives equipped with functional KAVACH system.
During the development phase, KAVACH was implemented for a length of 264 Kms covering 25 stations across Wadi – Vikarabad – Sanath Nagar and Vikarabad – Bidar sections over South Central Railway. Later, the system has been further extended by additional 936 kms, taking the cumulative deployment of Kavach to 1,200 kms.
Main Features of Kavach:
● Prevention of Signal Passing at Danger (SPAD)
● Continuous update of Movement Authority with display of signal aspects in Driver Machine Interface (DMI) / Loco Pilot operation cum Indication Panel (LPOCIP)
● Automatic Braking for Prevention of Over Speeding
● Auto Whistling while approaching Level Crossing Gates
● Prevention of collision between two Locomotives equipped with functional KAVACH
● SoS Messages during emergency situations
● Centralized live monitoring of Train movements through Network Monitor System
