New Delhi: The Indian Railways has tripled expenditure on safety over the last decade, from Rs 39,200 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 1,17,693 crore in 2025-26, prioritising passenger safety amid modernisation, the Parliament was informed on Friday.
“Safety is accorded the highest priority on Indian Railways. As a consequence of various safety measures taken over the years, there has been a steep decline in the number of accidents,” Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw said in a written reply to questions in the Rajya Sabha.
The indigenously developed hi-tech Kavach Automatic Train Protection (ATP), which requires safety certification of the highest order (SIL-4), has been installed along large sections of the Indian Railways network after successful field trials were carried out in 2016. Kavach aids the loco pilot in running trains within specified speed limits by automatically applying brakes in case the loco pilot fails to do so, and also helps to run trains safely during inclement weather.
The funds utilised on Kavach works so far, up to Dec 2025, are Rs 2,573.36 crore. The allocation of funds during the year 2025-26 is Rs 1,673.19 crore. Requisite funds are made available as per the progress of works, the minister said.
Based on the deployment of Kavach version 3.2 on 1465 route km on South Central Railway and experience gained, further improvements were made. Finally, the Kavach specification version 4.0 was approved by RDSO in July 2024.
Kavach version 4.0 covers all the major features required for the diverse railway network. This is a significant milestone in safety for Indian Railways. Within a short period, IR has developed, tested and started deploying the Automatic Train Protection System, the minister said.
After extensive and elaborate trials, Kavach Version 4.0 has been successfully commissioned on 1297 route kilometres, covering the high-density Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah routes. On the Delhi-Mumbai route, Kavach version 4.0 has been commissioned on the junction cabin–Palwal–Mathura–Nagda section (667 Rkm) & Ahmedabad–Vadodara–Virar section (432 Rkm) and on the Delhi–Howrah route on Gaya–Saramatanr (93 Rkm) and Bardhaman- Howrah section (105 Rkm).
Further, trackside Kavach implementation work has been taken up on 23,360 route km covering all important sections of the Railways.
Specialised training programmes on Kavach are being conducted at centralised training institutes of Indian Railways to impart training to all concerned officials. By now, more than 48,000 technicians, operators and engineers have been trained on Kavach technology. This includes about 45,000 Loco Pilots & Assistant Loco Pilots. Courses have been designed in collaboration with IRISET.
The cost for the provision of Track Side, including Station equipment of Kavac,h is approximately Rs 50 lakh/Km, and the cost for the provision of Kavach equipment on locomotives is approximately Rs 80 lakh/loco.
Indian Railways has also taken up the work of installing CCTV cameras in coaches and locomotives with the purpose of improving the safety and security of the passengers. The provision of CCTV cameras is expected to deter miscreant activities, vandalism, thefts and also assist in the investigation of the incidents. Accordingly, Zonal Railways and Production Units have initiated action for the procurement and installation of CCTV cameras in coaches and locomotives.
To date, approximately 12,300 coaches (including all operational rakes of Vande Bharat and Amrit Bharat trains) and 460 locomotives, plying over the Indian Railways network, are equipped with CCTV cameras, the minister added.
(IANS)
