Kavach system installation on Mumbai-Delhi-Kolkata route jumps deadline again

According to officials, around 25% work on these routes has been commissioned and is in ready-to-use condition, while major components for the remaining 75% have already been installed

Having missed the second deadline of December 2025, the Railways is now hopeful of operationalising the automatic train protection system, Kavach, on routes connecting the national capital with Mumbai and Howrah sometime in 2026, with steady progress and an aggressive approach, officials said.

Kavach is an indigenously developed, highly technology-intensive system that helps loco pilots maintain specified speed limits by automatically applying brakes if the driver fails to do so.

According to the officials, around 25% work on these routes has been commissioned and is in ready-to-use condition, while major components for the remaining 75% have already been installed. “We are doing our level best to operationalise Kavach on the Mumbai-Delhi and Delhi-Kolkata routes, hoping to achieve it in 2026,” they said.

The Railways Ministry on August 7, 2024, said that work to install Kavach would be completed on the said routes by March 2025. It announced the extension of the deadline from March to December 2025 on February 1, 2025, in a budget document titled ‘Railways estimates for Revised Estimates 2024-25 and Budget Estimates 2025-26’.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw provided an update on the progress of Kavach installation on December 17 in the Lok Sabha. “After extensive trials, Kavach Version 4.0 has been successfully commissioned on 738 route km [RKm], including the Palwal-Mathura-Nagda section [633 Rkm] on Delhi-Mumbai route and the Howrah-Bardhaman section [105 Rkm] on Delhi-Howrah route,” he said.

“Optical fibre cable has been laid along 7,129 km with the installation of 800 telecom towers.”

Mr. Vaishnaw added that other Kavach components, such as Station Kavach, have been installed at 860 stations, track-side equipment on 5,672 route km and Loco Kavach on 4,154 locomotives.