Two of the busiest routes in the nation will soon be protected by the Kavach Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system, which Indian Railways has granted contracts to implement. The tenders have been awarded for Delhi–Mumbai and Delhi–Howrah corridors.
The introduction of Kavach is currently underway on both the Delhi-Mumbai (1384 route km) and Delhi-Howrah (1447 route km) lines. An additional Detailed Project Report (DPR) is being prepared by the railways. Additionally, a thorough estimate for an additional 6000 route kilometres is being prepared.
On the South Central Railway (SCR) zone, Kavach has been deployed on 1465 Route km and 121 locomotives, including Electric Multiple Unit rakes.
In order to implement this anti-collision system, the national transporter has already spent a total of Rs 351.91 crores. The cost to provide Kavach equipment is roughly Rs 70 lakh per locomotive, while the cost to provide Kavach equipment on the trackside, including station equipment, is Rs 50 lakh per km.
Three Indian OEMs have currently been given approval by the railroads to install Kavach. In order to boost the capacity to accelerate the adoption of this new system, efforts are being made to develop more vendors.
