NEW DELHI: The Indian Railways said on Friday that it equipped more than a hundred locomotives with the anti-collision devices called ‘Kavach’, especially in the South Central Railway route where the horrific triple-train mishap at Balasore in Odisha had occurred on June 2.
Kavach is an indigenously developed automatic train protection system. Its first trials on the passenger trains were held in 2016.
The Kavach system had recently come into prominence in the wake of horrific the triple train mishap that occurred in Odisha’s Balasore.
Union Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in a written reply to the Upper House said that three firms were approved in 2018-19 for supplying Kavach. After receiving these devices, the Railway adopted a National ATP system in 2020.
Kavach devices have been installed in 121 locomotives (including electric multiple unit rakes) on different routes of South Central Railway (SCR) covering a distance of 1465 route km of the same zone.
“Apart from this, the railway has awarded tenders for Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah corridors, which cover approximately 3000 routes and work is in progress on these routes,” the railway minister said.
He also, giving a thrust on safety in railway, informed the House that the railway is also preparing Detailed Project Report (DPR) and detailed estimate for another 6000 route km. The minister claimed that Rs 351.91 crores are being spent on the installation of these devices.
“The cost for the provision of trackside including station equipment of Kavach approximately falls Rs 50 lakh per km and cost for the provision of Kavach equipment on loco falls approximately Rs 70 lakh per locomotive,” he added.
He also said that the electronic interlocking systems with the centralized operation of points and signals have been provided at 6427 stations.
“Not only this, the interlocking of level crossing gates has been provided at 11093 level crossing gates in the country”, he said.
The railway minister also added that 295 passengers died in Balasore triple train mishap while 175 others had sustained injuries. He said that all unmanned level crossings on the broad gauges route have been eliminated by January 2019.