What is Kavach? It is a technology designed to bring a train to a halt automatically when it notices another train on the same line within a prescribed distance.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav demonstrated while testing Kavach technology in a train on Friday, "Look, there is a loco standing in front of us, and now we are trying to move forward, Kavach is braking automatically 380 meters before Is." Another train in which the chairman of the railway board is there. When the armor technology alerted both of them, both the trains stopped at an interval of 380 meters.
Rear-end collision testing is successful.
— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) March 4, 2022
Kavach automatically stopped the Loco before 380m of other Loco at the front.#BharatKaKavach pic.twitter.com/GNL7DJZL9F
The test run of Kavach, which is considered to be the world's cheapest automatic train collision protection system, was done in Secunderabad.
It was a dramatic test with the Railway Minister and the Chairman of the Railway Board in two different trains speeding on the same track. On Friday the test was conducted on three conditions: a face-to-face collision, a rear-end collision and when a signal is in danger.
The Make-in-India technology will help the Indian Railways to achieve the goal of zero accidents as the technology will automatically stop the train if there is another train on the same line.
According to the ministry, the new technology will cost Rs 50 lakh per kilometer to operate, compared to around Rs 2 crore worldwide.
The technology works on the principle of continuous updating of speed using high frequency radio communication. RFID tags are provided at the track and station yard for each track and signals are provided for track identification, train location and train direction.
The first field trials of Kavach technology on passenger trains were started in February 2016 and based on the experience gained, initial specifications of the Kavach were finalized in May 2017.