KAVACH : In News
The accident involving the Sealdah Kanchanjunga Express on June 17, which claimed 10 lives, has brought to the fore once again the delay in installing Kavach, an indigenously developed automatic train protection (ATP) system, across the country’s rail network.
- Experts, including former Railway Minister and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, raised questions about the delay in the implementation of the system.
- The KAVACH is an indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system by the Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) in collaboration with the Indian industry.
- It is a state-of-the-art electronic system with Safety Integrity Level-4 (SIL-4) standards.
- It is meant to provide protection by preventing trains to pass the signal at Red (which marks danger) and avoid collision.
- It activates the train’s braking system automatically if the driver fails to control the train as per speed restrictions.
- In addition, it prevents the collision between two locomotives equipped with functional Kavach systems.
- The system also relays SoS messages during emergency situations. An added feature is the centralised live monitoring of train movements through the Network Monitor System.
- ‘Kavach’ is one of the cheapest, SIL-4 certified technologies where the probability of error is 1 in 10,000 years.
- 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 two-way communication between the station master and loco-pilot to convey any emergency message.
- The instrument panel inside the cabin helps the loco-pilot know about the signal in advance without visual sighting, and the permissible speeds to be maintained.
- If a red signal is jumped and two trains come face to face on the same line, the technology automatically takes over and applies sudden brakes.
