Kavach 4.0 commissioned on 1,452 km of key rail routes; safety spending on Indian Railways triples

Indian Railways has successfully commissioned Kavach 4.0, the latest version of its indigenous Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system, across 1,452 route kilometres on the high-density Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah corridors, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

The development marks a significant milestone in strengthening railway safety and modernising train operations on some of the country’s busiest routes.

Indigenous safety technology

Kavach is an indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection system designed to assist loco pilots in maintaining trains within permitted speed limits. The system automatically applies brakes if the driver fails to act in time and also helps trains operate safely during low-visibility conditions such as fog.

Initial field trials on passenger trains began in February 2016, and the system was adopted as the national ATP system in July 2020. Following improvements based on operational experience, Kavach Version 4.0 was approved by the Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) in July 2024.

The upgraded system includes improved location accuracy, enhanced signal information in complex railway yards, station-to-station communication through optical fibre networks and direct integration with electronic interlocking systems.

Deployment on key corridors

Kavach 4.0 has been installed across several sections of the Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah routes, including segments such as Palwal-Mathura-Nagda, Vadodara-Ahmedabad, Vadodara–Virar, Gaya-Sarmatanr and Chota Ambana-Bardhaman-Howrah.

The railway ministry said implementation of the system involves multiple infrastructure components, including installation of station-based equipment, RFID tags along tracks, telecom towers, optical fibre cables and onboard Kavach devices on locomotives.

Large-scale infrastructure deployment

Significant progress has been made in deploying the supporting infrastructure on high-density routes. So far, 8,570 kilometres of optical fibre cable have been laid, 1,100 telecom towers installed, and 6,776 route kilometres of trackside equipment deployed.

In addition, 767 station data centres have been set up and 4,154 locomotives equipped with Kavach devices. Work has also been initiated to install Kavach systems in 8,979 locomotives and 1,200 EMU/MEMU train sets.

Beyond the currently commissioned sections, trackside implementation has been taken up on 24,427 route kilometres, covering the Golden Quadrilateral, Golden Diagonal and other high-density rail network segments.

Training and investment

To support the rollout of the technology, specialised training programmes are being conducted across railway training institutes. More than 55,000 technicians, engineers and operators have already been trained in Kavach technology, including about 47,500 loco pilots and assistant loco pilots.

The cost of installing trackside Kavach infrastructure is estimated at around ₹50 lakh per kilometre, while fitting the system on locomotives costs about ₹80 lakh per engine.

The Ministry said ₹2,763.9 crore has been spent on Kavach implementation up to February 2026, with ₹1,673 crore allocated for the financial year 2025–26.

Decline in train accidents

According to the railway ministry, multiple safety initiatives -including Kavach – have contributed to a sharp reduction in accidents.

The number of consequential train accidents declined from 135 in 2014-15 to 14 in 2025-26 (up to February 2026), a drop of nearly 90 per cent.

Similarly, the consequential accident index, which measures accidents relative to total train kilometres run, fell from 0.11 in 2014-15 to 0.03 in 2024-25, indicating a 73 per cent improvement in safety performance.

Increased safety spending

The Ministry has also significantly increased spending on railway safety. Expenditure on safety-related activities has risen from ₹39,200 crore in 2013–14 to ₹1,20,389 crore in 2026–27, more than tripling over the period.

Other safety measures include installation of electronic interlocking systems at 6,665 stations, interlocking of 10,153 level crossing gates, and complete track circuiting at 6,669 stations to improve detection of train movements and prevent accidents.

The ministry said these initiatives are part of ongoing efforts to enhance operational safety, modernise railway infrastructure and improve reliability across the national rail network.