SRINAGAR: Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday informed Parliament that more than 2,000 route kilometres of the indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system, Kavach, have been commissioned across the Indian Railways, marking a push towards enhancing passenger safety and operational efficiency.
Replying to supplementary questions during Question Hour in the Lok Sabha, Vaishnaw said the Railways has so far installed the Kavach train protection system on 4,154 locomotives. He described the pace of implementation as “very fast”, underscoring the government’s priority on strengthening safety mechanisms in rail operations.
The Minister further stated that capacity-building efforts are being carried out alongside deployment, with over 40,000 technicians and operators already trained in the operation and maintenance of the Kavach system.
Kavach is an indigenously designed safety technology aimed at preventing train collisions by automatically applying brakes in case of human error, signal passing at danger, or overspeeding. The system is considered a key component of Indian Railways’ broader strategy to modernise signalling infrastructure and reduce accidents.
Vaishnaw reiterated that the phased rollout of Kavach would continue in a planned manner, with emphasis on high-density and high-risk routes, as the Railways works towards improving overall safety standards across the network.
