The execution of indigenously-developed Kavach, which is Indian Railways’ automatic train protection mechanism, is facing delays as approvals for the products compliant with the latest version 4.0 are taking time, an official source told FE.
So far, the Research Designs and Standard Organization (RDSO), the research and development wing of railways that’s authorised to approve equipment for Kavach 4.0, has given nod to just one OEM (original equipment manufacturer) HBL Engineering. “The timely execution of Kavach hinges on version 4.0 compliance approvals. It’s a work in progress. Although there are no technological bottlenecks from the OEM side, the approvals are lagging behind,” the official said.
In February, the Railway Board pushed the deadline for the installation of Kavach 4.0 on New Delhi-Mumbai and New Delhi-Kolkata route from March to December 2025. “Track side equipment for Kavach Version 4.0 on the 3,000 km route of New Delhi-Mumbai and New Delhi-Kolkata will be completed by December 2025, and work on the remaining section is underway,” said a Railways Board document.
The official said that the trials and approval of more OEMs are at different stages. “The target is to equip 10,000 locomotives with Kavach 4.0, and cover the entire rail network over the next six years,” he said.
On May 14, HBL Engineering secured a Rs 3,764 crore order book from railways, making it the first company to receive such approval. Besides HBL, other vendors involved in the execution of Kavach includes Kernex Microsystems, Medha Servo Drives and RailTel Corporation.
Based on the deployment of Kavach version 3.2 on 1,465 route km on south central railway, the RDSO made further improvement in the existing system to introduce version 4.0 in July last year. Kavach 4.0, which covers all the major features required for a diverse railway network like in India, offers increased location accuracy, improved information on signal aspects in the bigger yards, and direct interface to the existing electronic interlocking systems, etc. As on March 2025, the railways has utilised Rs 1,950 crore on the Kavach project.