Kavach tenders awarded for Delhi–Mumbai and Delhi–Howrah corridors, Rs 352 cr spent on Kavach so far: Govt

The Indian Railways has awarded tenders for the installation of the indigenously developed anti-collision system 'Kavach' on the Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah corridors, said Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw. He gave the information on Friday in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha.

He also informed the Rajya Sabha that the Indian Railways is also preparing a Detailed Project Report (DPR) and detailed estimate for installing Kavach on another 6,000 route km.

The train accident in Odisha's Balasore, which killed over 290 people and injured at least 1,000, has brought the railways' automatic train protection system "Kavach" into focus.

The railways has said that "Kavach" was not available on the route where the accident occurred on June 2.

The system alerts when a loco pilot jumps a signal (Signal Passed at Danger -- SPAD), which is among the leading causes of train collisions. The system can alert the loco pilot, take control of the brakes and bring the train to a halt automatically when it notices another train on the same line within a prescribed distance.

The implementation of Kavach began in a phased manner, with the first field trials on passenger trains starting in February 2016. As of July 2023, the system has been deployed on 1,465 route km and 121 locomotives, including Electric Multiple Unit rakes, on South Central Railway. The total expenditure on Kavach implementation so far stands at Rs 352 crore, said Vaishnaw.

"The cost for provision of track side including Station equipment of Kavach is approximately Rs 50 Lakhs/Km and cost for provision of Kavach equipment on loco is approximately Rs 70 lakh/ loco. Presently there are three Indian OEMs who are approved for Kavach. Efforts are being made to develop more vendors to enhance the capacity and scale up the implementation of Kavach," Vaishnaw told Rajya Sabha.

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