Team Blitz India
NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Railways looks to upgrade to 4G/5G (LTE-based) its indigenous anti-collision system Kavach and expedite its implementation, Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Novemeber 29, amid criticism over rising cases of accidents and collisions.
Kavach is an indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system. The state-of-the-art electronic system activates the train’s braking system automatically if the driver fails to do so, and prevents the collision between two locomotives equipped with functional Kavach systems.
The tenders for the next-gen Kavach will be rolled out in May to June next year, while the tender to upgrade the existing Kavach technology to LTE will be floated by next month, Vaishnaw told reporters.
The need to upgrade Kavach comes as the ministry has been looking to update all its outdated communication systems and make anti-collision more efficient and effective over longer range.
This paper had exclusively reported in 2022 that the railways was exploring a direct leap to 5G for Kavach and mission critical voice operations in the railways.