Western Railway's KAVACH Rollout: A New Era for Train Safety

Western Railway (WR) is on track to complete the installation of KAVACH, India’s indigenous Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system, across all its locomotives by December 2025.

According to railway officials, KAVACH has already been installed in 168 locomotives—50 under Central Railway (CR) and 118 under WR. The full-scale rollout will cover 730 locomotives under CR and 850 under WR, with WR committing to a firm implementation deadline. Central Railway is yet to announce its target completion date.

KAVACH is a cutting-edge safety system developed to prevent critical operational errors such as Signal Passing at Danger (SPAD), overspeeding, and collisions. The system uses radio communication and real-time signalling and location data to define and enforce Movement Authority (MA) limits. These limits specify whether and how a train can move through a section of track—ensuring operations stay within predefined safety parameters.

By intervening automatically when necessary, KAVACH enhances overall train safety, reduces human error, and contributes to more reliable and efficient rail operations.

A key milestone was achieved on August 31, when Central Railway installed KAVACH in its 50th locomotive, reflecting steady progress in the nationwide implementation of this critical safety initiative.

News by Rahul Yelligetti.