- Indian Railways approved Rs 1,364.45 crore for Kavach and signalling upgrades across four zones
- Southern Railway to install Kavach Version 4.0 on 232 locomotives at Rs 208.81 crore
- South Central Railway allocated Rs 578.02 crore for electronic interlocking at 49 stations
Indian Railways has approved a package of infrastructure projects worth Rs 1,364.45 crore to expand the Kavach train collision-avoidance system and modernise its signalling and communication backbone across four railway zones, the government said on Monday.
The approvals cover Kavach equipment installation in Southern Railway, optical fibre cable networks in Northern and North Central Railways, and replacement of outdated signalling systems in South Central Railway.
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In Southern Railway, Kavach Version 4.0 equipment will be installed on 232 locomotives at a cost of Rs 208.81 crore. The work falls under a larger national umbrella programme for Kavach deployment with LTE communication backbone, which has an overall outlay of Rs 27,693 crore. A sub-allocation of Rs 2,950 crore has been earmarked for Southern Railway under this programme.
The biggest single allocation, Rs 578.02 crore, goes to South Central Railway for replacing panel interlocking systems with electronic interlocking at 49 stations on high-density routes. Of this, Rs 426.82 crore covers 35 stations in Guntakal Division and Rs 151.20 crore covers 14 stations in Nanded Division. Electronic interlocking reduces manual intervention and improves operational safety on busy corridors.
Northern Railway has been allocated Rs 400.86 crore for optical fibre cable upgrades across more than 3,200 route kilometres spanning three divisions. The breakdown covers 926 km in Ambala Division (Rs 115.74 crore), 1,204 km in Delhi Division (Rs165.49 crore) and 1,074 km in Lucknow Division (Rs 119.63 crore). These 2×48 fibre networks are critical for reliable signalling and future Kavach deployment.
North Central Railway receives Rs 176.76 crore to lay a 2×48 fibre OFC network across 2,196 route kilometres covering Prayagraj (1,016 km), Jhansi (709 km) and Agra (471 km) divisions.
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All four projects are part of a broader modernisation drive to make train operations safer and more reliable. Kavach, developed by the Research Designs & Standards Organisation (RDSO), automatically applies brakes when a driver fails to respond to a danger signal or when two trains are on a collision course.
The approvals signal the government's intent to move well beyond the existing Kavach footprint and bring modern, automated safety systems to a larger share of the country's vast rail network, said the official statement.
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