Kavach 4.0 commissioning sets a 472 km Indian Railways record

Kavach 4.0 commissioning reached a record 472.3 route kilometres in a single rollout for Indian Railways, lifting the automatic train protection system’s footprint beyond 1,300 route kilometres and strengthening safety on the Delhi–Mumbai and Delhi–Howrah corridors, according to a PIB press release from the Ministry of Railways.

The Ministry of Railways said the Friday rollout was the highest distance commissioned with the system in one day and in a single month. In total, it spans three newly activated sections: 344 km on the Vadodara–Virar stretch of Western Railway, 35 km on Northern Railway’s Tuglakabad Junction Cabin–Palwal section, and 93.3 km on East Central Railway’s Manpur–Sarmatarn section. With this expansion, Kavach 4.0 is now commissioned across five railway zones.

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The previous highest commissioning was 324 route kilometres on the Kota–Mathura section of West Central Railway.

Kavach 4.0 coverage expands to 1,306.3 route kilometres

After the latest Kavach 4.0 commissioning, the system has been brought online over a total of 1,306.3 route kilometres. Prior to this phase, coverage stood at 834 route kilometres, including 633 km on the Palwal–Mathura–Nagda segment of the Delhi–Mumbai route and 105 km on the Howrah–Bardhaman section of the Delhi–Howrah corridor. The ministry also cited an additional 96 route kilometres commissioned on the Bajwa section between Vadodara and Ahmedabad.

On Northern Railway, Kavach 4.0 was commissioned on the 35-km Tuglakabad Junction Cabin–Palwal section of the Delhi–Mumbai route, which spans 152 main line track kilometres. The installation covers the full stretch, including major station yards, two main lines with automatic signalling, and two lines with absolute block signalling.

Kavach 4.0 rollout details across three zones

On East Central Railway, train operations with Kavach 4.0 started on the Manpur–Sarmatarn section under the Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya division. During trial operations, the ministry said a head-on collision test was conducted and the train stopped automatically. Kavach installation is also underway across 4,235 route kilometres of East Central Railway, including 417 route kilometres on the Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction–Manpur section of the Delhi–Howrah trunk route. This section currently permits speeds of up to 130 kmph, with work progressing under Mission Raftar to raise the limit to 160 kmph.

On Western Railway, Kavach 4.0 was commissioned on the Vadodara–Surat–Virar portion of the Delhi–Mumbai route. Work on this stretch began in January 2023. The first Kavach-equipped service from Mumbai on the section was Train No. 20907 Dadar–Bhuj Sayajinagri Express, which operated on January 30, 2026.

The ministry said work on the Vadodara–Nagda section is expected to be completed by March 2026, while the Virar–Mumbai Central section is targeted for completion by September 2026. Kavach has so far been installed on 364 locomotives on Western Railway, and sanctioned works covering 2,667 route kilometres are currently under execution.

Kavach Version 4.0 is an indigenous automatic train protection system approved by the Research Designs and Standards Organisation, as reflected in the RDSO system requirement specification for KAVACH. It prevents signal passing at danger and controls overspeeding by applying brakes automatically when required—an overview also discussed in Railway Supply coverage of the Kavach 4.0 protection system.

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