Indian Railways expands Kavach 4.0 to 2,490 Route km on Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah routes

📌 Summary:

• The Ministry of Railways has expanded Kavach 4.0 — an indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system — to 2,490 route km across the Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah corridors (as on 13.07.2026)
• Function: Kavach automatically applies brakes if the loco pilot fails to act, keeps trains within speed limits, and enables safer operation even in adverse weather; adopted as the National ATP system in July 2020
• Route split: Delhi-Mumbai 1,344 route km; Delhi-Howrah 1,146 route km
• Development timeline: first field trials on passenger trains began February 2016; three firms approved in 2018-19 for Version 3.2; after deployment of v3.2 on 1,465 RKm on South Central Railway, Kavach specification v4.0 was approved by RDSO on 16.07.2024
• v4.0 upgrades: improved location accuracy, better signal information in large yards, a station-to-station interface over optical fibre cable (OFC), and direct integration with the Electronic Interlocking System; planned for large-scale rollout

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS3 (Science & Technology — indigenous technology, Atmanirbhar Bharat) and infrastructure/rail safety; Prelims facts on Kavach

📝 Prelims Facts:

• Kavach = indigenous Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system; National ATP system since July 2020
• Kavach 4.0 specification approved by RDSO on 16.07.2024; expanded to 2,490 route km
• Deployed on Delhi-Mumbai (1,344 RKm) and Delhi-Howrah (1,146 RKm) corridors

🔑 Key Term: Automatic Train Protection (ATP) — a safety system that intervenes to brake or slow a train to prevent collisions and signal-passing-at-danger