Facing flak over the failure of Kavach Train Protection system, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw reviewed the progress of the advanced version of the Automatic Train Protection System (ATP) Kavach 4.0 at the Rail Bhawan during the weekend.

Kavach 3.2 version is being installed on approved high-density routes, the railway officials said, adding that upgrading and installation of the latest version on new routes will go on simultaneously to cover a wider railway network in a shorter period.

“The three manufacturers of Kavach who are in the advanced stage of testing version 4.0 presented its progress report to the minister,” a senior railway official said about the review progress of Kavach 4.0 on Saturday.

After reviewing it, the minister directed that Kavach installation be taken up in a planned manner in mission mode as soon as it is ready, he added.

The railway ministry maintains that the development of Kavach is a significant milestone in railway safety.

In the past, Vaishnaw stated on several occasions during interaction with the media that while most major railway systems in the world moved to ATP in the 1980s, the Indian Railways started this journey with the approval of the first version of the Train Collision Avoidance System in 2016.

In 2019, after rigorous trials and testing, this safety system received SIL4 certification, the highest level of safety certification in the world.

It was approved as a national ATP system in 2020 and despite the outbreak of COVID-19, testing and development continued, according to the Railways.

In 2021, version 3.2 of the system was certified and adopted and in the last quarter of 2022, work was started to install this version on high-density network routes of Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah.