News Brief
Kavach, India's Indigenous Train Protection System, Set For Expansion And LTE Upgrade; Formal Launch Expected In 12-15 Months
An Indian Railways train. (Representative Image)
The Indian Railways has implemented Kavach, its homegrown train collision prevention system, on 1,465 kilometers of track, mainly across the South Central Railway zone.
The Railways is now reportedly planning to issue tenders by around May or June for enhancing the current and future setups with LTE (long-term evolution) technology, which will enable the system to operate on 4G or 5G networks.
The official launch of Kavach is expected to take place in the next 12 to 15 months, The Hindu Businessline reported citing sources.
The current tenders aim to extend Kavach coverage to 6,000 km, including 3,000 km along critical Delhi – Mumbai and Delhi – Howrah corridors, where survey work is ongoing.
The North Western Railway, serving states such as Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab, and Haryana, has already allocated tenders worth Rs 426 crore to deploy the train protection system over 1,600 km within the zone, with a completion goal set for 2025.
Earlier this month, successful trial runs for Kavach were carried out on Vande Bharat trains (running at 160 km per hour) along the test track located between Mathura and Palwal.
These initial trials involved an eight-car Vande Bharat train, with plans to test a 16-car configuration in the next phase.
In the South Central Railway zone, which spans Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, and parts of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Madhya Pradesh, an infrastructure upgrade is underway to support the 1,465 km route where Kavach is already in use.
This upgrade includes the integration of various components like station Kavach, RFID tags along the tracks, and the erection of Kavach towers, all of which must be synchronised for effective operation.
Additionally, the Cabinet earlier this month approved an extra 5MHz of spectrum in the 700 MHz band for the Railways, doubling the previously assigned spectrum for the nationwide deployment of Kavach.
The Railways currently have the capacity to install Kavach over 1,500 km route annually, a figure expected to increase to 2,500 km in FY25 and 5,000 km in FY26 as new vendors receive approval.
Medha, Kernex, and HBL PowerSystems are among the existing vendors for the tech.
The cost of installing Kavach, including trackside and station equipment, is estimated at Rs 50 lakh per km, with locomotive equipment costing Rs 70 lakh per unit.
The budget allocation for Kavach was Rs 710 crore in FY24, with nearly Rs 560 crore earmarked in the FY25 Interim Budget.
Regarding the installation of additional components, the optical fibre cable has been laid across 3,040 of the planned 6,000 km, 269 towers have been erected, and 186 Station Kavach setups have been completed, according to a railway official cited in The Hindu Businessline report.
Trackside equipment has been installed in 827 Rkms, and 170 loco equipment has been set up.
In all there are 139 locomotives including electric multiple unit rakes that are Kavach enabled, the official added.
