New Delhi, June 15 (AHN) The Indian Railways has approved the installation of Kavach Version 4.0 on 598 route kilometres covering 48 block sections of the Ahmedabad Division of the Western Railway in Gujarat as part of the measures to increase safety.

The project has been sanctioned at a cost of Rs 140 crore.

Earlier, Kavach work had already been sanctioned on 702 route kilometres of the Ahmedabad Division. With the approval of the present project, the remaining sections of the division will also be brought under Kavach, paving the way for wider deployment of the indigenous train protection system across the division.

The work has been approved under the umbrella programme for the provision of Kavach with long-term evolution (LTE)-based communication backbone on balance routes of Indian Railways.

Kavach is an indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system designed to enhance operational safety. It helps prevent Signal Passing at Danger (SPAD), automatically applies brakes when required to avert unsafe situations, controls train speed in critical conditions, and significantly reduces the risk of collisions.

Indian Railways is progressively expanding Kavach across its network as part of its continued efforts to strengthen safety and modernise train operations.

Recently, sanctioned projects include the provision of on-board Kavach equipment for 232 locomotives in Southern Railway at a cost of Rs 208.81 crore. The proposal forms part of the umbrella work for the provision of Kavach with a communication backbone of LTE on balance routes of Indian Railways, with an overall cost of ₹27,693 crore.

A sub-umbrella allocation of Rs 2,950 crore has been earmarked for Southern Railway under this programme. The present work has been proposed within this sub-umbrella and covers the installation of Kavach Version 4.0 equipment on locomotives.

Similarly, Indian Railways has sanctioned the provision of optic fibre cables for Kavach over North Central Railway at a cost of Rs 176.7699 crore to support the deployment of Kavach and improve communication infrastructure across high-density routes.

Indian Railways has also sanctioned two itemised works in South Central Railway at a total cost of Rs 578.02 crore for the replacement of panel interlocking with electronic interlocking systems. A sub-umbrella allocation of Rs 1,857 crore has been earmarked for South Central Railway. Under this, two works have been approved to enhance signalling reliability, reduce manual intervention, and improve safety across high-density routes.