Indian Railways (IR) has sanctioned expansion of the indigenous automatic train protection system Kavach over 1478 route km of Northern Railway (NR) at a total cost of about ₹362 crore.
The sanctioned works cover important sections of Firozpur and Jammu divisions. Under this, Kavach will be installed over 1,012 route kilometres on balance sections of Firozpur Division at an estimated cost of about ₹241 crore. In Jammu Division, Kavach will be provided on the Jalandhar City Junction-Jammu Tawi-Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra, Batala Junction-Pathankot Junction and Banihal-Baramulla sections covering around 466 route kilometres at a cost of nearly ₹121 crore.
The scope of the sanctioned works includes installation of stationary Kavach systems along with 40 metre communication towers and antennae infrastructure to enable seamless and reliable functioning of the safety system.
Kavach is India’s indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection system that helps prevent collisions by automatically applying brakes in case of unsafe movement. The technology also assists loco pilots in maintaining safe train operations through continuous communication between locomotives, signalling systems and trackside equipment.
