More than 40% funds utilized for Kavach installation as per Railway Ministry

by Psu Connect
Date: 03-02-24

The Indian Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has stated in a reply that railways has so far utilized Rs 321.85 crore out of a total of Rs 798.98 crore of budgetary allocation for the implementation of Kavach.

More than 40% funds utilized for Kavach installation as per Railway Ministry

As per official speculation, more than 40 percent of the fund has been utilized so far in the current financial year. Kavach is basically an anti-collision device, an indigenously developed automatic train protection [ATP] system which is highly technology intensive and it requires safety certification of the highest order. Kavach was adopted as a national ATP system in July 2020 and has so far been deployed on 1,465 km and 139 locomotives [including electric multiple unit rakes] on the South Central Railway.

At present Kavach tenders have been awarded for Delhi-Howrah and Delhi-Mumbai corridors [approximately 3,000km]. As per the progress is watchlist optical fibre cable has been laid on 3040 km, 269 telecom towers and 186 station equipment have been installed. Besides, 170 locomotives have also been equipped with Kavach provisions.

As per official data approval of OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] is a continous process. Presently, there are three OEMs approved for Kavach. The budgetary allocation for Kavach during the year 2023-24 is Rs 798.98 crore and utilization so far is Rs 321.85 crore. The interim budget 2024-25 allocates Rs 2.55 lakh crore to the Indian Railways with an increase of 5.8% over the previous year.