New Delhi, Sept 24: Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw conducted a trial of the Kavach 4.0 automatic train protection system on Tuesday, riding a Kavach-fitted train from Sawai Madhopur to Indargarh in Rajasthan.
During the 45-minute journey, the train operated at various speeds and successfully stopped automatically at red signals, demonstrating the system's effectiveness without intervention from the loco pilot. Seven tests were conducted, all yielding successful results.
Developed by the Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO), the Kavach system is designed to automatically apply brakes in emergencies when a driver is unresponsive. The Railway Ministry has been developing this project for eight years, aiming to implement the system across the network in phases.
Vaishnaw announced plans to operationalize Kavach on the 3,000-km Mumbai-Delhi and Delhi-Kolkata routes by March next year. The advanced version 4.0 was approved on July 17, 2024, with large-scale installation set to commence soon. Initial field trials for Kavach began in February 2016, leading to the approval of three firms for supply in 2018-19 based on thorough assessments.
