December 6, 2025: Indian Railways has stepped up the deployment of Kavach, its indigenous Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system, across major high-density passenger and freight routes. Designed to prevent collisions, overspeeding, and signal-passing violations, Kavach automatically applies brakes if the loco pilot does not respond, and also supports operations in low visibility.
In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said Kavach was adopted as India’s National ATP system in July 2020 and is being rolled out in phases. The earlier 3.2 version was installed on 1,465 route km of South Central Railway and 80 route km in North Central Railway. He noted that “Kavach automatic train protection system version 4.0 has already been successfully commissioned on 738 route kilometres,” including 633 km on the Palwal–Mathura–Nagda section of the Delhi–Mumbai corridor and 105 km on the Howrah–Barddhaman stretch of the Delhi–Howrah route.
Kavach Version 4.0, approved by RDSO on 16 July 2024, brings enhanced location accuracy, improved interlocking integration, and features designed for large-scale deployment. Work is now advancing on 15,512 route kilometres covering the Golden Quadrilateral, its diagonals, and other major high-density networks.
To support nationwide deployment, Railways has laid 7,129 km of optical fibre, installed 1,650 telecom towers, equipped 4,154 locomotives, and commissioned 4,692 km of trackside units as part of the Kavach ecosystem. More than 40,000 personnel — including 30,000 loco pilots and assistant pilots — have been trained.
Bids have also been invited to install Kavach on an additional 9,069 locomotives, with work planned in phases. Funds amounting to Rs 2,354.36 crore have been utilised up to October 2025, with more allocations lined up for 2025–26.
The minister stated that the approximate cost of installing trackside and station equipment is Rs 50 lakh per kilometre, while outfitting a locomotive with Kavach costs around Rs 80 lakh per locomotive.
Source: Swarajya
