Watch: Minister tests Kavach tech on train; ‘See, we are stopped automatically'
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.
"See, a loco is standing in front of us, and now that we are trying to proceed, Kavach is automatically applying a brake 380 meters before," railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw demonstrated as he tested the Kavach technology on Friday in a train hurtling towards another train which has the chairman of the Railway Board. Both the trains stopped at a gap of 380 metres as Kavach technology alerted both of them.
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The test run of Kavach, being considered as the world's cheapest automatic train collision protection system, was conducted in Secunderabad.
It was a dramatic test run with the railway minister and Railway Board chairman on two separate trains at a high speed on the same track. The testing on Friday was done on three situations: head-on collisions, rear-end collisions and when a signal is passed at danger.
The Make-in-India technology will help the Indian Railways to achieve the goal of zero accidents as the technology will make a train halt automatically if there is another train on the same line.
According to the ministry, the new technology will cost ₹50 lakh per kilometre to operate compared to about ₹2 crore worldwide.
The technology works on the principle of continuous update of movement by using high-frequency radio communication. RFID tags are provided on the tracks and at station yard for each track and signals for track identification, location of trains and identification of train direction.
The first field trials of Kavach technology on the passenger trains were started in February 2016 and based on the experience gained, initials specifications of the Kavach were finalised in May 2017.
(With agency inputs)