New Delhi, June 22 (IANS). The Railway Ministry on Monday announced that the government has approved the installation of indigenous train protection system ‘Kavach’ on 631 kilometer (RKM) route of the East Coast Railway network. According to the ministry, this project will cost around Rs 270 crore.
The project will cover six important rail sections of East Coast Railway, including Baghuapal-Budhapank, Haridaspur-Paradip, Khurda Road-Balangir, Naupada-Gunpur, Lanjigarh Road-Junagarh and Bobbili-Salur rail sections.
According to the ministry, this approved project is part of the larger program of Indian Railways under which ‘Kavach’ system with LTE-based communication system is being implemented across the entire railway network.
‘Kavach’ is an indigenous Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system developed in India, designed to prevent incidents like signal breaking (SPAD), over speeding and train collisions.
This system continuously monitors the movements of the trains and automatically applies brakes when necessary. This significantly improves the safety of railway operations.
The Railway Ministry said that with the implementation of ‘Kavach’ system on these railway sections, trains will get automatic safety and anti-collision facility, which will further strengthen the level of operational safety.
According to the ministry, apart from preventing accidents, the system will also help in safe operation of trains during bad weather, especially dense fog.
Railway officials say the project will benefit both passenger and freight train services in Odisha and surrounding areas under East Coast Railway.
This initiative will improve the punctuality and operational efficiency of trains as well as further strengthen the security framework on critical railway routes.
This approval has been given by Indian Railways as part of its comprehensive drive to modernize signaling and safety systems across the country.
Earlier this month, the government had announced that Eastern Railway has received approval to install Electronic Interlocking (EI) system at 32 stations located on High Density Network (HDN) and Highly Utilized Network (HUN) routes.
The government has sanctioned Rs 405 crore for this signal upgradation project, which aims to improve the reliability, safety and operational performance in critical rail corridors.
–IANS
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