Indian Railways’ anti-collision system ‘Kavach’ is being implemented in a phased manner with 1,455 route kms on South Central Railway already covered, Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw said in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on Friday. “Currently, ‘Kavach’ work is in progress on Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah corridors (3,000 route kms),” Vaishnaw wrote. While shedding more light on why the system is being implemented in a phased manner, he said it was done “keeping in view the complexities involved in implementation”. “(It’s implementation), which require all Rolling Stock, wayside stations and track to be equipped with ‘Kavach’, it has been decided to implement it in a phased manner,” the minister added.
Here’s all you need to know about ‘Kavach’
‘Kavach’ is a world-class technology for safety as well as capacity augmentation. According to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, this indigenously-developed anti-collision technology is SIL4 certified. This means there is the probability of a single error in 10,000 years, the minister was quoted saying in an ANI report.
- It prevents Signal Passing at Danger (SPAD)
- It provides a continuous update of Movement Authority with signal aspects’ display in Driver Machine Interface / Loco Pilot operation cum Indication Panel
- There is Automatic Braking for Prevention of Over Speeding
- Auto Whistling while approaching Level Crossing Gates
- It prevents collision between two locomotives equipped with functional Kavach
- SoS Messages during emergency situations
- Centralised live monitoring of movement of trains through Network Monitor System
The ‘Kavach’ system includes key elements from already existing, tried and tested systems such as the European Train Protection and Warning System, as well as the indigenous Anti Collison Device. Also in the future, it will carry features of the high-tech European Train Control System Level-2.
