Kavach

Source: The post “Kavach” is based on the article “What is the status of Kavach installations? | Explained” published in The Hindu on 5th November 2023.

What is the News?

The deadly collision between two passenger trains in southern India’s Vizianagaram district in Andhra Pradesh which killed 14 people and injured fifty persons could have been averted if Traffic Collision Avoidance Systems (TCAS) were in place.

What is Kavach?

(1) KAVACH is an indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection(ATP) System for Indian Railways.
(2) It is a state-of-the-art electronic system with Safety Integrity Level-4 (SIL-4) standards.
(3) It activates the train’s braking system automatically if the driver fails to control the train as per speed restrictions.

Developed by: Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) in collaboration with the Indian industry.

What are the features and significance of KAVACH?

(1) The Traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS), with the help of equipment on board the locomotive and transmission towers at stations connected with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags.
(2) This helps in two-way communication between the station master and loco-pilot to convey any emergency message. The instrument panel inside the cabin helps the loco-pilot know about the signal in advance without visual sighting, and the permissible speeds to be maintained.
(3) If a red signal is jumped and two trains come face to face on the same line, the technology automatically takes over and applies sudden brakes..

How much does the Kavach system cost?

(1) It will cost Rs.50 lakh per kilometre for the Indian Railways

What is the current status of Kavach installations?

(1) Present coverage for Kavach is only 1,500 km (It may take many years to ensure Kavach even on high-density routes, as Railways has a total route length of 68,000 kms).
(2) The South Central Railway (SCR) Zone is a pioneer in the implementation of the KAVACH- The Kavach system has been deployed over 1,465 kms in the SCR limits in 77 locomotives and 135 stations till March this year.
(3) Delhi-Mumbai & Delhi-Kolkata route– 200 to 250 km routes from Delhi to Mumbai and Delhi to Kolkata where it is still under testing in patches, installed in 100 kms.
(4) The Secunderabad-based Indian Railways Institute of Signal Engineering & Telecommunications (IRISET) hosts the ‘Centre of Excellence’ for Kavach. IRISET has been mandated by the Railway Board to train the in-service railway staff on Kavach.

What is the Kavach deployment strategy?

(1) Budget Allocation– Rs.4,000 crore under the Signalling and Telecom budget head which includes Rs.2,000 crore under the Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK) fund which implements Kavach.

(2) Priority Routes- The first priority is the High-Density Routes (New Delhi-Mumbai and New Delhi-Howrah Sections, as they have higher chances of accidents because the trains run closer to each other)
–The second priority lines are the Highly Used Networks
–The third ones are other Passenger High-Density Routes
–The final priority is of course to cover all other routes.

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