Railways commissions Indigenously Developed Kavach 4.0 on Mathura-Kota Section of the Delhi-Mumbai Route

Mint

4 days ago

New Delhi: Indian Railways has launched an indigenous railway safety system, Kavach 4.0, for the Mathura-Kota section of the busy Delhi-Mumbai route.
This is the first commissioning of the latest Kavach version and a step towards modernization of railway safety systems in the country.
'Railways has indigenously designed, developed, and manufactured the Kavach Automatic Train Protection System, taking inspiration from PM's 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' vision. Kavach 4.0 is a technology-intensive system. It was approved by the Research Designs & Standards Organisation (RDSO) in July 2024,' railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said in a statement released by ministry.
'Many developed nations took 20-30 years to develop and install train protection systems. The commissioning of Kavach 4.0 on the Kota-Mathura section has been achieved in a very short timeframe. This is a very big achievement,' the minister added.
Indian Railways is gearing up to commission Kavach 4.0 on various routes within a short span of six years. Over 30,000 people have already been trained on Kavach systems.
IRISET (Indian Railway Institute of Signal Engineering and Telecommunications) has signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with 17 engineering colleges, institutions and universities for incorporating Kavach as part of their BTech course curriculum.
Kavach will help the loco pilots maintain train speeds by effective brake application. Even in low visibility conditions like fog, the pilots will not have to look outside from the cabin for a signal. Pilots can see the information on the dashboard installed inside the cab.
Kavach is designed to prevent accidents by monitoring and controlling train speeds. It is designed at Safety Integrity Level 4 (SIL 4). This is the highest level of safety design. Development of Kavach started in 2015. The system was extensively tested for over three years. After technical improvements, the system was installed in South Central Railway (SCR). The first operational certificate was granted in 2018.
Based on the experiences gained in SCR, an advanced version 'Kavach 4.0' was developed. It was approved in May 2025 for speeds up to 160 kmph. Kavach components are also being manufactured indigenously.
Kavach is an extremely complex system. Commissioning of Kavach is equivalent to setting up a telecom company, ministry of Railways statement said.
Under the system, RFID tags are installed every 1km along the entire length of the track. Tags are also installed at every signal. These RFID tags provide precise location of the trains. The system also includes full-fledged telecom towers including optical fiber connectivity and power supply are installed across the track length every few kilometres. Kavach systems installed on locos and Kavach controllers at the stations are constantly communicating using these towers. It is equivalent to installing a complete network like that of a telecom operator.
The loco with Kavach interacts with the RFID tags installed on the tracks and relays the information to telecom towers and receives radio information from the station. Kavach is also integrated with the braking system of the locomotives. This system ensures that brakes are applied in case of an emergency situation.
At the station level, Kavach is installed at every station and block section. It receives information from the loco and signaling system and guides the loco for safe speeds. The system also includes optical fibre cable network, that is laid along the tracks which connects all these systems for high-speed data communication.
The signalling system is also integrated with the loco, station, telecom towers, etc. These systems need to be installed, checked and certified without disrupting the railway operations including heavy movement of passenger and goods trains.
As of now under the Kavach system, 5,856km of optical fibre has been laid while 619 telecom towers have been installed. Also, Kavach has been installed at 708 stations and 1,107 locos. Trackside equipment have been installed on 4,001 route km.
According to ministry of railways, the national transporter invests more than ₹ 1 trillion per year on safety related activities. Kavach is one of the many initiatives taken to enhance safety of passengers and trains. The progress made and the pace of deployment of Kavach reflect the commitment of Indian Railways towards ensuring railway safety.