Why in news?

• Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw reviewed the working of the indigenous train protection system of the national transporter- ‘Kavach’, between Lingampalli – Vikarabad section of South Central Railways’ Secunderabad Division.

About Kavach

• It is a set of electronic devices as well as Radio Frequency Identification devices installed in train locomotives, in the signalling system and rail tracks, that talk to each other utilizing ultra high radio frequencies in order to control the train brakes and also alert drivers, based on the logic programmed into the system.
• One of the main features of Kavach is that by continuously refreshing a train’s movement information, it is able to send out triggers when a loco pilot jumps signal, known as Signal Passed at Danger, a grave offence that leads to accidents like collision.
• Also, the devices relay the signals continuously ahead to the loco, making it useful for locomotive pilots in low visibility, especially when there is dense fog.
• The Kavach system includes European Train Protection and Warning System, as well as the indigenous Anti Collison Device.
• Also in the future, it will carry features of the high-tech European Train Control System (ETCS) Level-2.
• The Kavach system’s current form adheres to Safety Integrity Level 4 which is the highest level of safety and reliability standard.

Modification in the train protection system

• The government wants to position Kavach as an exportable system, a cheaper alternative to the European systems.
• At present, Kavach uses Ultra High Frequency, however, work is on to make the system compatible with 4G Long Term Evolution technology and make it for global markets.
• Also, work is going on to make Kavach such that it can be compatible with other installed systems across the globe.
• In Lucknow, RDSO along with private vendors are developing the system.
• Once rolled out, Kavach may be the cheapest Automatic Train Protection System in the world with the rollout cost pegged at around Rs 30 lakh to 50 lakh per kilometer, a fourth of the cost of equivalent systems across the globe.
• The Kavach system, in the next phase, will also be able to recalibrate as per temporary speed restrictions en route.

Kavach in Indian Railways

• Kavach, the indigenously-developed train collision avoidance system (TCAS), is set for countrywide implementation by taking up 4,000-5,000 km each year following the commissioning of up to 2,000 km this year in the South Central Railway (SCR) zone.
• Kavach has been deployed on over 1,098 km and 65 locomotives in ongoing projects of the South Central Railway.
• In future it will be implemented on 3000 km of the Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah corridors where the tracks and systems are being upgraded to host a top speed of 160 kmph.
• In addition to a trial section of 250 km, at present Kavach is under implementation on 1200 km of South Central Railway, on Bidar-Parli Vaiinath-Parbhani and Manmad-Parbhani- Nanded, Secunderabad-Gadwal-Dhone-Guntakal sections.
• Further, over 34,000 km on the High Density Network (HDN) and Highly Utilized Network (HUN) of on the Golden Quadrilateral have been included in its sanctioned plans.
• Four years ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had turned down an ambitious plan of the Railways to roll out ETCS-Level 2 system across its network and had asked the transporter to look for indigenous, cheaper solutions for such future upgrade.

Way forward

• 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 the indigenous world-class technology Kavach’, for safety and capacity augmentation in 2022-23.
• Being cost-efficient, the system has the full potential to be a substitute of the European and Australian systems