‘Kavach’- an Indigenous Automatic Train Protection System to Boost Safety in Trains Operation

Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister of Railways, Communication and Electronics & Information Technology inspected the trial of ‘Kavach’ working system between Gullaguda-Chitgidda Railway stations on Lingampalli-Vikarabad section in Secunderabad Division of South Central Railway. Shri V.K.Tripathi, Chairman & CEO, Railway Board and other senior officials were also present on this occasion.

In the presence of Hon’ble Union Minister, extensive trial of ‘Kavach’ was conducted. Hon’ble Minister was onboard the locomotive which moved from Gullaguda towards Chitgidda. Shri V.K.Tripathi, Chairman and CEO, Railway Board 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 the red signal was tested; however, the locomotive did not cross the red signal as ‘Kavach’ necessitated the application of brakes automatically. Automatic whistle sound was loud and clear when gate signal approached. The crew did not manually touch the sound and braking system during the trial. The speed restriction of 30 Kmph was tested when the locomotive was run on loop line. ‘Kavach’ automatically reduced the speed to 30 Kmph from 60 Kmph as the locomotive entered the loop line.

KAVACH

The KAVACH is an indigenously developed ATP system by Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) in collaboration with Indian industry and trials facilitated by South Central Railway to achieve the corporate objective of safety in train operations across Indian Railways. It is a state of the art electronic system of Safety Integrity Level – 4 standards.

KAVACH is meant to provide protection by preventing trains to pass the signal at Danger (Red) and avoid collision. It activates the train braking system automatically if the driver fails to control the train as per the speed restrictions. In addition, it prevents collision between two Locomotives equipped with functional KAVACH system.

‘Kavach’ is one of the cheapest, Safety Integrity Level 4 (SIL-4) certified technologies with the probability of error is 1 in 10,000 years. Also, it opens avenues of export of this indigenous technology for Railways.

Features of KAVACH

1. Prevention of Signal Passing at Danger (SPAD)
2. Continuous update of Movement Authority with display of signal aspects in Driver Machine Interface (DMI) / Loco Pilot operation cum Indication Panel (LPOCIP)
3. Automatic Braking for Prevention of Over Speeding
4. Auto Whistling while approaching Level Crossing Gates
5. Prevention of collision between two Locomotives equipped with functional KAVACH
6. SoS Messages during emergency situations
7. Centralized live monitoring of Train movements through Network Monitor System.

KAVACH DEPLOYMENT STRATEGY OVER INDIAN RAILWAYS:

96% of railway Traffic is carried on Indian Railway High Density Network and Highly Used Network routes. To transport this traffic safely, KAVACH works are being taken up in a focused manner as per following priority set by the Railway Board.

5. First Priority : High Density Routes and on New Delhi – Mumbai & New Delhi – Howrah Sections for 160 Kmph with Automatic Block Signaling & Centralized Traffic Control. Since such sections have higher chances of human errors on part of drivers resulting into accidents as trains run closer to each other.
6. Second Priority : On the Highly Used Networks with Automatic Block Signaling & Centralized Traffic Control.
7. Third Priority :On other Passenger High Density Routes with Automatic Block Signaling.
8. Fourth Priority :  All other routes.

As a part of Atmanirbhar Bharat, 2,000 km of network will be brought under Kavach for safety and capacity augmentation in 2022-23. Around 34,000 Kms of network will be brought under Kavach.