Now Reading: Kavach 4.0 to cover 15,000 km of high-density rail routes
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Kavach 4.0 to cover 15,000 km of high-density rail routes
Indian Railways has awarded contracts for 14,954 km of Kavach version 4.0, the indigenous Automatic Train Protection system, covering the Golden Quadrilateral and other high-density routes, Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told Rajya…
The Story in Brief
Indian Railways has awarded contracts for 14,954 km of Kavach version 4.0, the indigenous Automatic Train Protection system, covering the Golden Quadrilateral and other high-density routes, Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told Rajya Sabha on September 3. The new version has been commissioned on the 324-km Mathura-Kota section, the first to be cleared by an Independent Safety Assessor.
Trackside equipment costs about Rs 50 lakh per km and locomotive installation Rs 80 lakh. So far, Rs 2,015 crore has been spent. SCR is upgrading its 1,400 km of Kavach 3.2 to 4.0 and installing it on an additional 1,618 km. IRISET has trained over 30,000 personnel. A parallel project to equip 10,000 locomotives is underway.
The Indian Opinion
The expansion of Kavach 4.0 is welcome, but the usual hype around ‘world-class’ technology should not mask gaps. Only 4,005 km of trackside systems have been commissioned out of 15,000 km planned, and 1,290 locomotives out of 10,000 targeted. Critics call the cost excessive, yet every crore spent on safety is an investment in lives. The real test will come when Kavach 5.0 begins suburban trials and we see measurable reduction in accidents. Numbers, not announcements, will prove its worth.
Sources (2): thehindu.com, timesofindia.indiatimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above.
Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources.
