Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday said the indigenously-developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system called “Kavach” will be deployed across the entire rail network beginning with 2,000 km in the coming financial year and will be rolled out in 4,000 to 5,000 km every subsequent year.
'Kavach', which literally means armour, is being promoted by the Railways as the world's cheapest automatic train collision protection system. Announced in the 2022 Union Budget as a part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative, 2,000 km of rail network is planned to be brought under 'Kavach' for safety and capacity augmentation in 2022-23.
So far, 'Kavach' has been deployed on over 1,098 route km and 65 locos in on-going projects of the South Central Railway. 'Kavach' is designed to bring a train to a halt automatically when it notices another train on the same line within a prescribed distance.
"In the budget 2,000 km has been approved and in subsequent years 'Kavach' will be deployed in 4,000-5,000 km every year," Vaishnaw told the media after inspecting the working of 'Kavach' between the Lingampalli–Vikarabad section of Secunderabad division, South Central Railway.
To mark the National Safety Day, the Railway Minister alongwith railways top officials inspected the working of ‘Kavach’ between Lingampalli – Vikarabad section of Secunderabad Division of the South Central Railway zone. The Railway Minister was accompanied by Vinay Kumar Tripathi, Chairman and CEO of the Railway Board as well as other senior railway officials.
Vaishnav was onboard the locomotive, which moved from Gullaguda towards Chitgidda, and Tripathi was onboard the locomotive which moved from Chitgidda towards Gallaguda. During the trial, Head-on-collision situation was created as both the locomotives were moving towards each other. The ‘Kavach’ system initiated the automatic braking system and halted the locomotives 380 metres apart.
Also, crossing of the red signal was tested under which the locomotive did not cross the red signal as ‘Kavach’ necessitated the application of brakes automatically. The speed restriction of 30 Kmph was tested when the locomotive was run on a loop line. ‘Kavach’ automatically reduced the speed to 30 Kmph from 60 Kmph as the locomotive entered the loop line.
The system is designed, developed and manufactured in India and will be deployed in India and exported to the world.
Trains will also stop on their own when the digital system notices any manual error like "jumping" of the red signal or any other malfunction. 'Kavach' is developed by Research Design and Standards Organization (RDSO) in collaboration with Indian industry.
The system is also said to facilitate automatic braking for the prevention of over speeding of trains. The system is meant to provide safety by preventing trains to pass the signal at Danger (Red) and avoid a collision.