Supreme Court Seeks Details From Centre On Safety Measures Including 'Kavach' System To Prevent Train Accidents

Several months after the tragic train accident in Odisha that resulted in deaths of 293 people, the Supreme Court on Tuesday (2 January) questioned the Centre regarding the safety measures within the Railways, including the automatic train protection system known as 'Kavach'.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and K V Viswanathan asked the Attorney General to inform it about the safety measures that have been implemented or are planned to be introduced by the Railways.

The bench asked for this information to be provided in the next hearing, scheduled to take place after four weeks.

"Is there any kind of exercise undertaken that how much financial implication will be there on the 'Kavach' system in case it is introduced on a pan-India basis," the bench asked, NDTV reported.

The petition has also sought issuance of guidelines for the implementation of the 'kavach' system in Railways with immediate effect.

"The enforcement of safety mechanisms of train protection system is still not done at ground level throughout the country as it has been clearly proven that Kavach, which is an Automatic Train Protection System, was still not applied on this route...", the plea said.

The collision that occurred between three trains - the Coromandel Express, the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, and a freight train - ranks as one of the most devastating rail tragedies in the nation's history.