Indian Railways has sanctioned the deployment of the indigenous Kavach automatic train protection system across 631 route kilometres (RKm) of the East Coast Railway (ECoR) at an estimated cost of ₹270 crore. The approval forms part of the national rollout of Kavach aimed at strengthening railway safety across the network.
The project will bring additional sections of the East Coast Railway under Kavach coverage, enhancing train protection through real-time monitoring and automatic intervention capabilities. The system is designed to prevent collisions by automatically applying brakes when a potential conflict or signal violation is detected.
Kavach, developed by Indian Railways as an indigenous Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system, helps prevent Signal Passed At Danger (SPAD) incidents, controls overspeeding and improves operational safety. The technology has become a key component of the Railways’ safety modernisation programme and is being deployed on high-density and critical routes across the country.
The approval for East Coast Railway follows a series of recent sanctions for Kavach implementation across various railway zones as Indian Railways accelerates the nationwide rollout of the system. The network-wide programme is being undertaken under the broader “Provision of Kavach with communication backbone of LTE on balance routes of Indian Railways” initiative.
East Coast Railway, which serves Odisha and parts of neighbouring states, is one of the country’s busiest freight and passenger railway zones. The addition of Kavach on 631 route kilometres will further strengthen safety infrastructure on the network while supporting Indian Railways’ goal of expanding the technology across major rail corridors.
The latest sanction comes amid a wider push by Indian Railways to enhance signalling, communication and train protection systems, with Kavach emerging as a central element of the national railway safety framework.
