Overview
- The Ministry of Railways has sanctioned installation of the indigenous Kavach automatic train protection system on 631 route kilometres of East Coast Railway for about Rs 270 crore, covering six sections including Baghuapal–Budhapank and Haridaspur–Paradeep.
- Kavach continuously monitors speed and signal status and can automatically apply brakes to prevent signal-passing-at-danger, overspeeding and collisions, giving trains an automatic safety layer beyond driver controls.
- The approval is for planning and deployment rather than completed work and forms part of a wider Indian Railways programme to roll out Kavach using an LTE-based communications backbone across the network.
- Officials say the installation will boost safety and punctuality for both passenger and freight services, help safer movement in dense fog, and drew praise from Odisha’s chief minister as a milestone for the state’s rail infrastructure.
- Next steps to watch include the detailed installation schedule, integration with signalling upgrades such as recently approved Electronic Interlocking projects, and later measures of reduced SPADs and accident rates on the upgraded corridors.