CHENNAI: Southern Railway has decided to install Kavach, the anti-collision system for trains, for 2,216 km of tracks across Tamil Nadu and Kerala. During the first phase, the high-density routes — Chennai-Arakkonam (68 km), Arakkonam -Renigunta (65 km), and Chennai-Gudur section (138 km)—will be prioritised, where Vande Bharat express trains are operational, said an official statement.
The remaining 1,945 km, which includes Arakkonam–Jolarpettai (150 km), Chennai-Egmore-Tambaram-Chengalpattu (60 km), Chengalpattu –Villupuram (102.76 km), Jolarpettai–Salem–Erode (179.26 km), Erode–Irugur–Coimbatore–Podanur (106.54 km), Villupuram-Tiruchchirappalli (178 km), will be covered in the second phase. The project is being accorded top priority as part of the modernisation of signalling systems for the year 2024-25.
Kavach protection system prevents trains from passing red signals and avoids collisions. “When the locomotive passes the red signal, the system will automatically activate braking in the train and bring it to a halt. Additionally, it prevents collisions between two trains and locomotives,” said Chief Public Relations Officer M Senthamil Selvan.
The system will also produce auto-whistling while approaching level crossing gates, besides sending emergency alerts to the concerned railway units. When the system gets developed in the future, train movement will be monitored centrally through network monitors, Selvan added.
How does Kavach work?
Kavach broadly comprises ‘stationary control unit’ (SCU) and ‘on-board equipment’. On-board RFID reader is mounted beneath the locomotive and it can read the RFID tags fitted between the rails and collect information such as unique tag ID, direction of travel and unique track identification number (TIN). This data is communicated to the station control unit through the radio link. SCU will locate the train based on the RFID tag ID and send the information like approaching signal aspect, and distance to the locomotive.
On-board equipment which receives information from the station control unit collects the speed of train through sensors mounted on the loco axle to determine whether the loco is travelling at safe speed limit. In case the locomotive is running beyond safe speed, an alert will be sounded to loco pilot for five seconds before initiating the brakes and bringing the train to a stop, said a press note.