Indian Railways activates Kavach 4.0 on key route, targets pan-India rollout in six years; Full details 

In a major upgrade to train safety on one of the country's busiest rail corridors, Indian Railways has commissioned Kavach 4.0 on the Mathura-Kota section of the high-density Delhi-Mumbai route.

The advanced Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system, developed indigenously under the government's 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' push, marks a significant milestone in India’s effort to modernise railway operations.

"This is a very big achievement," said Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. "Railways has indigenously designed, developed, and manufactured the Kavach Automatic Train Protection System, taking inspiration from PM Narendra Modi's 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' vision."

Kavach 4.0, a technology-intensive system, was approved by the Research Designs & Standards Organisation in July 2024. "Many developed nations took 20-30 years to develop and install train protection systems. The commissioning of Kavach 4.0 on the Kota-Mathura section has been achieved in a very short timeframe," the railway minister said. 

Kavach is engineered to prevent accidents by continuously monitoring and regulating train speed, especially in low-visibility conditions. It allows loco pilots to rely on digital dashboards within the locomotive cab, eliminating the need to physically spot signals on the track during fog or adverse weather.

The system has been developed at Safety Integrity Level 4 (SIL 4), the highest grade of safety design. Its development began in 2015 and the system underwent over three years of extensive testing. The first operational certificate was granted in 2018, following installation in the South Central Railway zone. Based on that field experience, the advanced version-Kavach 4.0-was designed and approved in May 2025 for operation at speeds up to 160 kmph. Importantly, all components of Kavach are being manufactured within India.

Kavach - a highly complex task

Commissioning Kavach is a highly complex task, comparable to setting up a telecom company. It involves multiple integrated systems working in tandem. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags are installed every kilometre along the track, including at all signals, to provide accurate, real-time location data of trains.

These tags interact with Loco Kavach units onboard locomotives, which then transmit and receive data through a network of telecom towers. These towers are established at regular intervals along the route and are equipped with optical fibre connectivity and power supply, ensuring uninterrupted communication between trains and station controllers.

The Loco Kavach system is connected to the locomotive's braking mechanism. It processes RFID data and radio signals from the Station Kavach units, ensuring automatic brake application in case of any risk. The Station Kavach is installed at every station and block section. It aggregates information from both the signaling system and the moving trains, guiding loco pilots on safe speeds.

These systems are linked through an Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) network laid alongside the tracks, facilitating high-speed data transmission. The entire signaling infrastructure is integrated with the Kavach ecosystem, ensuring cohesive and real-time response to dynamic train movements.

All of these systems have to be installed, tested, and certified without disrupting the normal flow of passenger and freight traffic-adding to the complexity of the rollout.

As per official progress data, 5,856 kilometres of optical fibre cable has already been laid. A total of 619 telecom towers have been erected, and Kavach has been installed at 708 railway stations. So far, 1,107 locomotives have been equipped with Kavach, and trackside components have been deployed across 4,001 route kilometres.

To build capacity for long-term deployment, more than 30,000 railway personnel have been trained in Kavach operations and maintenance. The Indian Railway Institute of Signal Engineering and Telecommunications (IRISET) has also signed memoranda of understanding with 17 AICTE-approved engineering colleges and universities to incorporate Kavach into their BTech curriculum, creating a pipeline of future-ready engineers.

Indian Railways currently spends over ₹1 lakh crore every year on safety-related improvements, and Kavach is a key part of this broader investment. With the successful commissioning on the Delhi-Mumbai corridor, the ministry now aims to roll out Kavach 4.0 across key routes nationwide within six years.