New Delhi [India], July 26 (ANI): Indian Railways is set to rapidly expand the deployment of its indigenous train protection system, Kavach, across the country’s vast rail network, Anil Kumar Khandelwal, Member (Infrastructure) of the Railway Board at the Ministry of Railways, said on Friday.
Speaking at industry body FICCI’s Future Rail India 2024 conference, Khandelwal said that they have already finalised Kavach’s final specification on July 16.
“Now, we are launching it in a big way throughout the country,” a release quoted Khandelwal as saying.
Khandelwal said, “We have already finalised our Kavach final specification on July 16th for Version IV. Now, we are launching it in a big way throughout the country.
He added that the Kavach installation has already been completed in more than 1,400 kilometres. It is going on in 3,000 kilometres of Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah, and bids are invited for a further 3,200 kilometres, with 5,000 kilometres more to be invited shortly.
Kavach is an indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system. It is a highly technology-intensive system, which requires safety certification of the highest order. Kavach aids the loco pilot in trains running within specified speed limits by automatic application of brakes in case the loco pilot fails to do so and it also helps the train safely run during inclement weather.
The first field trials on the passenger trains were started in February 2016. Based on the experience gained and the Independent Safety Assessment of the system by a third party (Independent Safety Assessor: ISA) three firms were approved in 2018-19 for the supply of Kavach.
Subsequently, Kavach was adopted as a National Automatic Train Protection system in July 2020.
The railways are now inviting widespread industry participation in this crucial safety initiative.
“I request industries to participate in a big way,” Khandelwal urged, revealing that three companies have already been approved for Kavach, with eight more under consideration.
There was much debate around the anti-collision system in light of the horrific triple-train accident in Odisha’s Balasore on June 2 last year, which claimed the lives of close to 300 passengers while leaving about 1,000 injured.
This push for enhanced rail safety is part of a broader transformation of Indian Railways.
Central to this transformation is the newly established GatiShakti Directorate, designed to streamline project planning and execution.
“Earlier, we were able to deliver about four kilometres per day on average; now it has reached more than 14 kilometres per day. Last year, we did more than 5,000 kilometres of the new track (laying),” Khandelwal noted.
This rapid expansion is crucial for Indian Railways’ ambitious plans to increase its share of the country’s freight market.
Khandelwal outlined the goal that, “Our total logistics market is about 5,000 million tonnes, out of which 1,600 million tonnes we carried last year. We plan to upgrade our infrastructure to take this figure by 2030-31 to 35 per cent or 3,000 million tonnes.”
Environmental sustainability is also a key focus, with Khandelwal announcing that the first hydrogen train will be rolling out this year.
“We are planning to launch about 50 by 2047,” Khandelwal said.
Railways’ ambitious plans extend to high-speed rail, with Khandelwal today confirming that India’s first bullet train is “likely to see train running by 2027”. The work for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project is in progress.
The Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train corridor has been making steady progress since work began in November 2021.
During the FICCI conference, Shantanu Roy, Chairman and Managing Director of BEML, a manufacturer of heavy equipment, highlighted BEML’s significant contributions to the sector, having supplied over 20,000 coaches to the railways and 2,000 cars for metro systems.
He also announced that BEML is set to deliver India’s first Vande Bharat sleeper train “within the next few weeks.” (ANI)
