TIRUCHY: Railway accidents like the recent one in Uttar Pradesh's Sultanpur, where two trains collided head-on, are set to be a thing of the past, With a new state-of-the-art train protection system in the works. Senior officials of the Indian Railways confirm that the new system, named "Kavach", will avoid train collisions in the future.
The system will implemented in phases, the officials added, and that it will be introduced in the Southern Railways in the financial year 2025-26. Accordig to the officials, the system will make use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and other systems to protect the trains against signal passing, excessive speed and collisions.
"Last year, the Indian Railway had conducted a trial run of the Kavach system between Gullaguda - Chitgidda Railway stations. During this trail run, a head-on-collision situation was created with two locomotives moving towards each other on the same track. When the two trains came closer, Kavach initiated the automatic braking system and halted both trains 380 metres apart.
Similarly, the crossing of the red signal was also tested wherein the locomotive did not cross the red signal as Kavach necessitated the application of brakes automatically," a senior official explained. Officials said that all the trains would have this system in the future and the railway would be installing the facility on various routes on a priority basis.
"The first priority is given to high density routes like New Delhi-Mumbai, New Delhi-Howrah etc., after which it will be installed on other routes. In Southern Railway, we expect it by the 2025-26 financial year," a senior railway official said. Kavach will also be the cheapest train protection system in the world, the officials say.
"The operation cost of Kavach is about Rs 50 lakh per km, while similar systems used in developed countries would cost about Rs 2 crore. Therefore, it also opens avenues of export of this indigenous technology for Railways," a senior railway official said.