Railway Accounts Department Examinations: Kavach - ATP

Kavach - ATP - Automatic Train Protection

Developed by RDSO - Research, Designs & Standards Organization, Lucknow in association with Indian Industry players.

How it works: It is a set of electronic devices and RFID - Radio Frequency Identification Devices installed in locomotives, in the signaling system as well the tracks, that talk to each other using ultra-high radio frequencies to control the brakes of trains and also alert drivers.

Costing Rs.30 Lakh to 50 Lakh Kilometer (European Train Protection and Warning System costing approx Rs. 2 Crores per Kilometer.)

State of the Art electronic system. SIL - 4 certification. Safety Integrity Level 4 certified technologies. That means the probability of 1 error in 10,000 years.

Salient features:

Prevention of SPAD - Signal Passing at Danger
Continuous update of Movement Authority with a display of signal aspects in Driver Machine Interface (DMI) / Loco Pilot operation cum Indication Panel (LPOCIP)
Automatic Braking for Prevention of Over Speeding
Auto Whistling while approaching Level Crossing Gates
Prevention of collision between two Locomotives equipped with functional KAVACH
SoS Messages during emergency situations
Centralized live monitoring of Train movements through the Network Monitor System.
Automatically reduced the speed to 30 Kmph from 60 Kmph as the locomotive entered the loop line.

Priority for introducing Kavach in Indian Railways

Priority	Routes
First	High-Density Routes of New Delhi - Mumbai and New Delhi - Howrah sections for 160 kmph with Automatic Block Signaling & CTC - Centralized Traffic Control
Second	Highly Used Networks with Automatic Block Signaling & CTC - Centralized Traffic Control
Third	Other Passenger High-Density Routes with Automatic Block Signaling
Fourth	All other Routes

96% of railway Traffic is carried on Indian Railway High-Density Network and Highly Used Network routes.

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