Indian Railways Expands Kavach 4.0 Automatic Train Protection System On Two Of Its Busiest Rail Corridors

Indian Railways has expanded the deployment of its indigenous train safety technology, commissioning the latest version of the Kavach Automatic Train Protection system across 1,452 route km on two of the country’s busiest rail corridors.

Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed the Lok Sabha that the upgraded system, known as Kavach 4.0, has now been installed along key sections of the Delhi–Mumbai railway corridor and the Delhi–Howrah railway corridor.

Developed in India, Kavach is an Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system designed to assist locomotive pilots in maintaining safe speeds and preventing collisions.

If a driver fails to respond to signals or exceeds permitted limits, the system automatically activates the brakes to avert potential accidents. It also improves operational safety during low-visibility conditions such as dense fog.

Initial trials of the technology began in 2016, and the system was formally adopted as the national ATP solution in 2020. The latest iteration, Kavach Version 4.0, received approval from the Research Designs and Standards Organisation in July 2024 after extensive field testing and upgrades.

The improved system offers greater location accuracy, better signal recognition in complex rail yards, communication between stations through optical fibre networks and direct integration with electronic interlocking systems.

Kavach 4.0 has already been installed on several sections including Palwal–Mathura–Nagda, Vadodara–Ahmedabad, Vadodara–Virar, Gaya–Sarmatanr and Chota Ambana–Bardhaman–Howrah.

Implementation requires a wide network of supporting infrastructure such as RFID tags along railway tracks, telecom towers, optical fibre cables, station equipment and onboard devices fitted on locomotives.

So far, Indian Railways has laid over 8,500 km of optical fibre cable and installed more than 1,100 telecom towers.

Around 767 station data centres have been set up and more than 4,100 locomotives equipped with Kavach devices. The railway network is also working to install the system on thousands more locomotives and suburban train sets.

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