Safety Boost: Railways Clears Rs 270 crore Kavach Project For 631 km network under East Coast Railway

Bhubaneswar: In a significant push to strengthen railway safety, Indian Railways has approved a Rs 270 crore project to install the indigenous Kavach train collision avoidance system across 631 route kilometres under the East Coast Railway (ECoR) zone.

The project will cover key rail corridors in Odisha and adjoining regions that carry heavy passenger as well as freight traffic, linking major industrial, mining and commercial centres.

According to media reports, railway officials said the Kavach rollout will be seamlessly integrated with the existing signalling and traffic control infrastructure to minimise disruption to train operations. The installation will be executed in phases across the East Coast Railway network.

Kavach is India's indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system, designed to enhance operational safety by preventing collisions and reducing the risk of human error. The technology automatically applies brakes if a train attempts to pass a signal at danger (SPAD), exceeds the permitted speed, or faces a potential collision risk.

The system continuously monitors train movements in real time and communicates with signalling equipment to ensure safe operations. It is also expected to improve the reliability of train services during low-visibility conditions, particularly in the fog-prone winter months.

The Ministry of Railways has said the system will operate on an LTE-based communication backbone and forms part of the government's broader strategy to expand Kavach across high-density and high-priority railway routes nationwide, with the objective of significantly enhancing passenger safety and operational efficiency.