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Just 2% of India’s rail track covered by Kavach, tech that ‘could have prevented Odisha tragedy’

Opposition has claimed that the presence of Kavach could have helped prevent Friday's three-train accident involving Coromandel Shalimar Express, Yeswantpur-Howrah Superfast & a goods train.

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New Delhi: The Odisha train accident, one of the worst-ever in India, has put the spotlight on the safety of rail travel, with Opposition leaders raising questions about why the trains involved were not equipped with the indigenously developed anti-collision ‘Kavach’ system, which was announced by the Modi government with a lot of fanfare last year.

The Railway Ministry clarified Saturday that Kavach had not yet been implemented on the route of the accident. 

As many as 288 people have died in the accident, which involved the Coromandel Shalimar Express, the Yeswantpur-Howrah Superfast and a goods train. The accident occurred when a few coaches of the Coromandel Express derailed and hit the parked goods train, and the Yeswantpur-Howrah Superfast then crashed into the wreckage.

The Kavach Train Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) works by deploying the automatic brakes when two trains seem headed for a collision, stopping them in their tracks at a safe distance.

According to the latest government data available, Kavach technology — developed at a cost of Rs 22 crore — covers only about 2.13 percent or approx. 1,450 kilometres of India’s 68,000-kilometre railway network.

While Kavach was launched last year, the Indian Railways had been working on a TCAS since 2012. The proof-of-concept trials took place in October-November 2012 after the specifications were firmed up by the railways’ Research Design and Standards Organisation.

As of March 2020, TCAS was installed on Lingampally-Vikarabad-Wadi and Vikarabad-Bidar sections (250-km route) in the South Central Railway zone, which largely covers Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra. The system was under implementation on a 1,199-km route in the same zone at the time, according to a government release.

In March 2022, the successful trial of Kavach was announced at an event where Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and the then Railway Board chairman and CEO were on onboard two trains moving towards each other on the same track. 

The ‘Kavach’ system initiated the automatic braking system, and halted the locomotives 380 metres apart during the trial. The system is designed to engage emergency brakes where there is a possibility of a head-on collision.


Also Read: At least 288 killed, 900 injured in Odisha triple train collision, rescue teams racing against time


What Oppn is saying

Opposition leaders have taken to Twitter to criticise the government over the accident, with West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee — who is also a former railway minister — saying the presence of Kavach on the trains involved could have averted the tragedy.

Meanwhile, Telangana minister K.T. Rama Rao, a member of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi, questioned what happened to the “anti- collision devices”.

The Congress’ social media handles slammed the government for not ensuring that the collision system was in place. 

 

TMC spokesperson Saket Gokhale noted that the TCAS was developed in 2011-12, when Mamata was the railway minister, and accused the Modi government of making “no progress” on its deployment. 

How does Kavach work?

According to the Railway Ministry’s Rail Mitra, the information portal for train passengers, Kavach is a ‘Made-in-India’ system equipped with a signal that uses ultra-high radio frequencies to control the train brakes automatically. 

It also alerts train pilots or drivers to avoid accidents and continuously updates a train’s movement information. 

“The moment it senses any danger, its automatic brake function stops the train. It often happens when the train pilots fail to respond randomly or in the lack of clear visibility during dense fog that causes a major rail accident,” states the website. 

Kavach especially gained popularity when Vande Bharat 2.0 came to be equipped with it to prevent the many cattle accidents that were being reported. All the Vande Bharat trains inaugurated since September last year have Kavach technology installed in them. 

Currently, Kavach is being implemented along the Delhi-Mumbai route, including the Vadodara-Ahmedabad section, and Delhi-Howrah route, including the Kanpur-Lucknow section, covering nearly 3,000 km, according to the railways, which added that deployment on these routes was sanctioned specifically because they are high-density and highly utilised routes.

“The establishment of Kavach depends on various factors like trials on a combination of various rolling stocks, varying track conditions, evaluation by the independent safety assessor (ISA), therefore, it is not feasible to fix definite timeline,” the ministry had said in Parliament in March. 

To ensure that safety of the passengers and upkeep of railways assets is accorded top priority by Indian Railways, the Union government increased the allocation of funds for safety-related works by 22.83 percent — from Rs 26,458 crore in 2022-2023 to Rs 32,500 crore in Budget 2023-24. 

This is an updated version of the report


Also Read: World leaders express grief at deaths in Odisha train crash


 

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