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Kavach Deployment: Sluggish Progress Despite Adequate Finances
The recent railway accident in Darjeeling, West Bengal, has once again highlighted the absence of 'Kavach', India's Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system. Despite available funds, the implementation of Kavach has been slow, raising concerns about railway safety.
Key Highlights
- Kavach can warn loco pilots of potential signal overshooting and apply brakes automatically
- Cost of installing Kavach: ?50 lakh per kilometre for tracks, ?70 lakh per engine
- Total estimated cost for full implementation: ?45,000 crore
- Current deployment: 1,465 km of tracks (2% of total) and 139 engines (less than 1% of total)
1: Dimension- Financial Aspects of Kavach Deployment
- Budget allocation: The yearly cost of deploying Kavach (?4,500 crore) is less than 2% of the Railways' capital expenditure budget (?2,52,000 crore in FY25).
- Cost breakdown: Equipping 68,000 km of tracks would cost ?34,000 crore, while fitting 15,200 engines would require ?10,640 crore.
- Affordable implementation: Covering the entire Railways network with Kavach would require only a small fraction of the Railways' budget over a 10-year period.
2: Dimension- Current Progress and Challenges
- Slow deployment: Since field trials began in 2016, only 2% of total route length and less than 1% of engines have been equipped with Kavach.
- Time projection: At the current pace, it would take 46 years to deploy Kavach across all route kilometers and over 100 years for all engines.
- Approval delays: Three firms were approved to supply equipment in 2018-19, but Kavach was only adopted as the national ATP system in July 2020.
3: Dimension- Required Measures for Acceleration
- Increased pace: To complete installation in 10 years, the pace needs to increase to 6,800 route km/year for tracks and 1,500 locos/year for engines.
- Mission mode implementation: Railways Minister has directed the installation to be taken up in "mission mode" following recent accidents.
- Focus on critical routes: Prioritizing high-traffic and accident-prone routes for initial deployment could maximize safety impact.
PYQ
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Mains Practice Question
Q. Despite adequate financial resources, the implementation of the Kavach system in Indian Railways has been slow. Analyze the reasons for this sluggish progress and suggest measures to accelerate its deployment.
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