Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw recently reviewed the progress of the advanced version of the Automatic Train Protection System (ATP) Kavach 4.0 at Rail Bhawan, amidst flak over the failure of the earlier Kavach Train Protection system. The review meeting was attended by senior officials from the railway ministry, who discussed the progress of Kavach 3.2 version, which is currently being installed on approved high-density routes. The installation of the latest version, Kavach 4.0, will take place simultaneously on new routes, aimed at covering a wider railway network in a shorter period.
According to senior railway officials, the three manufacturers of Kavach who are in the advanced stage of testing version 4.0 presented its progress report to the minister. After reviewing the report, Vaishnaw directed that Kavach installation be taken up in a planned manner in mission mode as soon as it is ready. The minister emphasized the importance of Kavach in railway safety, stating that it is a significant milestone in ensuring the safety of passengers and crew.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw (Via Ashwini Vaishnaw/Twitter)
The development of Kavach is a significant achievement, considering that Indian Railways started this journey much later than other major railway systems in the world. The first version of the Train Collision Avoidance System was approved in 2016, and after rigorous trials and testing, it received SIL4 certification, the highest level of safety certification in the world, in 2019. The system was approved as a national ATP system in 2020, and despite the setback of COVID-19, testing and development continued.
The certification of version 3.2 of the system was achieved in 2021, and the installation of this version on high-density network routes of Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah began in the last quarter of 2022. The railway ministry maintains that the development of Kavach is a significant milestone in railway safety, which will ensure the safety of passengers and crew.
