KAVACH System

KAVACH System

News: On 23 March 2022, the Ministry of Railways announced a significant step towards enhancing the safety of train operations in India with the development of the indigenous Automatic Train Protection (ATP) System called Kavach.

Background:
 Both the Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express and the Yeshwanthpur-Howrah Express were not fitted with KAVACH-TCAS.

About:
 Developed in collaboration with three Indian vendors by the Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO), Kavach has been adopted as the National ATP System for Indian Railways.
 Kavach has been designed to assist locomotive pilots in avoiding Signal Passing At Danger (SPAD) and over speeding while also providing support for train operations during adverse weather conditions such as dense fog.
 By automatically applying brakes when necessary, the system ensures better control over train speed and prevents potential accidents.

Key Features:
 The Traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS), with the help of equipment on board the locomotive and transmission towers at stations connected with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags helps in twoway communication between the station master and loco-pilot to convey any emergency message.
 Automatic brake application in case the locomotive pilot fails to act, the provision of line-side signal display in the cabin for improved visibility in foggy conditions and at higher speeds, continuous updating of movement authority, automatic whistling at level crossings, collision avoidance through direct loco-to-loco communication, and the inclusion of an SOS feature to control trains in emergency situations.
 It is a state-of-the-art electronic system with Safety Integrity Level-4 (SIL-4) standards. Kavach’ is one of the cheapest, SIL-4 certified technologies where the probability of error is 1 in 10,000 years.

About RDSO:
 Research Design and Standards Organization (RDSO) is an ISO 9001 research and development organization under the Ministry of Railways of India.
 It functions as a technical adviser and consultant to the Railway Board, the Zonal Railways, the Railway Production Units, RITES and IRCON International in respect of design and standardization of railway equipment and problems related to railway construction, operation and maintenance.
 RDSO has recently become the nation’s first institution to be declared as Standard Developing Organization (SDO) under the mission called “One Nation One Standard” on Bureau of Indian Standards.
Source – LiveMint