Railways to float ₹5,000 crore tender for Kavach safety system

livemint.com:

₹5,000 crore mega tender to accelerate the adoption of the Kavach automatic train protection (ATP) technology across 10,000 km of its busy networks. This initiative is aimed at reducing accidents such as the one near Balasore in Odisha last yearthat left nearly 296 people dead and over 1,200 injured. According to two people aware of the development, Indian Railways plans to release two separate tenders, each covering approximately 5,000 km, in the next few months, according to two persons aware of the development.

This marks a significant increase from the first Kavach tender in 2021, which covered only 3,000 km. The urgency to implement Kavach stems from the need to boost the safety and security apparatus of Indian Railways. The system is designed to prevent accidents caused by human error, such as failing to observe signals.

Kavach detects obstructions ahead and stops the train, thereby preventing collisions and derailments. “Tenders for commissioning Kavach on close to 10,000 km of Railway network is proposed to be initiated soon. The system, which has received a patent, has been approved for commissioning by additional vendors, including MNCs such as Japanese firm Kyosan.

This will allow faster roll-out of the system," Railway, IT and I&B minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told Mint on Saturday. A detailed project report (DPR) for implementing Kavach on 6,000 km is complete, with another for 4,000 km nearing completion. The goal is to issue tenders covering 9,500-10,000 km within the next few months, said one of the two persons quoted earlier.