Nagpur: Looking to enhance safety, the Indian Railways has floated multiple tenders to install Kavachs, the indigenously developed automatic train protection system (ATPS) developed by the Research Design and Standards Organization (RDSO) in collaboration with the Indian industry.
As of August 2024, the Indian Railways spent Rs 1,217 crore on Kavach, with an additional Rs 1,113 crore allocated for 2024-25. Last month, multiple tenders were floated to install Kavach in Nagpur, Solapur, Mumbai, Bhusawal, and Pune divisions under the Central Railway and from Nagpur to Jharsugda under the South East Central Railway (SECR).
Kavach assists loco pilots by automatically applying brakes if the pilot fails to do so and ensures safe operation during adverse weather conditions. Adopted as the national ATPS in July 2020, Kavach was deployed over the 1,465km route and on 144 locomotives (including electric multiple unit rakes) on the South Central Railway (SCR). The latest Kavach 4.0 specification was approved by the Research Designs and Standards Organization (RDSO) on July 16.
SECR CPRO Vipul Suskar confirmed centralised tenders for the survey, design, installation, testing, and commissioning of towers, equipment, and related works between Nagpur-Jharsugda will be opened on November 25. A pre-bid meeting was already held, and similar meetings are also in process for various components.
As the Kavach involves several components, none of the tenders are consolidated. For example, tenders for towers were floated separately as mobile tower firms will be able to do the job much better than the equipment companies.
The SECR zone, comprising Bilaspur, Raipur, and Nagpur divisions, has a heavy movement of freight and passenger trains. Stations on these three divisions fall in one of the busiest Mumbai-Howrah and Mumbai-Katni-Bilaspur routes. Due to the heavy transportation of coal, the zone is vulnerable to derailments and collisions.
Railway officials said the Indian Railways identified 11 routes where the indigenously developed Kavachs will be installed in the country. "The Mumbai-Howrah-Nagpur-Jharsuguda will be part of it. They added that the Kavach rollout is planned for the New Delhi-Howrah and New Delhi-Mumbai sections, which is targeted for completion by March 2025," they added.
SrDCM Aman Mittal said Kavach was successfully tested on several routes, with plans for Pan India implementation. Accordingly, tenders for the 991.42km route in the entire Nagpur division were floated. The tender opening process is already underway. The project is estimated to cost Rs 260 crore for the division.
RTI activist Ajay Bose's query on the Kavach installation states that the length of the railway routes across the country is 68,000km, but only 1,465km was completed. This means that nearly 99% of the routes are still to be covered under the advanced safety system. Kavach works were sanctioned on 36,545km of routes.
KAVACH THE SHIELD
* Kavach controls the speed of the train by automatic application of brakes in case loco pilot fails to apply the brakes
* Repeats line-side signal in the cab, which is very useful for higher speeds and foggy weather
* It works on the principle of continuous update of movement authority
* Auto whistling at level crossing gates
* Collision avoidance by direct loco-to-loco communication
* Supports the feature of SOS in case of any mishap to control trains in vicinity