Indian Railways has approved a ₹270-crore project to deploy its indigenously developed train protection system, Kavach, on 631 route kilometres (RKm) of the East Coast Railway, according to the Ministry of Railways. The project covers six strategically important sections: Baghuapal–Budhapank, Haridaspur–Paradeep, Khurda Road–Balangir, Naupada–Gunupur, Lanjigarh Road–Junagarh, and Bobbili–Salur.
These routes carry significant passenger and freight traffic across Odisha and neighbouring areas.
What Is KAVACH 4.0?
Kavach is India's indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system, designed to the highest global safety standard: Safety Integrity Level 4 (SIL-4).
It works through an interlocked network of RFID tags fitted every kilometre along the track, LTE-based telecom towers, onboard Loco Kavach units, and station-side controllers. All of these communicate in real time to prevent the three leading causes of train accidents, be it Signal Passing at Danger (SPAD), overspeeding, and collisions.
When a loco pilot fails to react in time, the system automatically applies the brakes. It also allows drivers to read signal aspects on an in-cabin display panel, making operations safer even in dense fog.
Kavach Version 4.0 is the latest iteration currently being deployed across the network. It was approved by the Research, Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) in July 2024.
Kavach 4.0 introduced significant improvements over earlier versions, including increased location accuracy, a direct interface to existing electronic interlocking systems, better signal aspect information at larger yards, and station-to-station Kavach communication over optical fibre cable. A further upgrade approved in May 2025 extended Kavach 4.0's certification to speeds of up to 160kmph.
Rapid national rollout
The East Coast Railway sanction is part of Indian Railways' major push for Kavach deployment with an LTE-based communication backbone across all remaining broad-gauge routes, budgeted overall at ₹27,693 crore.
Recent months have seen a steady pace of approvals: Kavach 4.0 was sanctioned for 598 route kilometres in the Ahmedabad Division of Western Railway at ₹140 crore in June; 811 route kilometres in the Ambala Division of Northern Railway at ₹201 crore again in June; and ₹1,364.45 crore worth of Kavach and signalling projects, including onboard Kavach equipment for 232 locomotives in Southern Railway at ₹208.81 crore, were approved in April 2026.
Over 30,000 railway personnel have already been trained on the Kavach system.
