A loco pilot checks the functioning of KAVACH in South Central Railway. | Photo Credit: NAGARA GOPAL South Central Railway (SCR) has announced that the Indigenous Automatic Train Protection System — Kavach latest version 3.2 has been brought into commercial operation after successful trials in the sections of Nagarsol – Mudkhed – Secunderabad – Dhone – Guntakal and Bidar – Parli Vaijnath – Parbhani sections to an extent of 1,200 km.Kavach system aids the loco pilot in trains running within specified speed limits by automatic application of brakes in case the loco pilot fails to do so and also helps the train safely run during inclement weather. General Manager Arun Kumar Jain, on Sunday, inspected the working of the latest version of the system by travelling in Tungabhadra Express between Secunderabad – Umdanagar Section. He examined the functioning of various aspects such as ‘Kavach Towers’, track side equipment and the signalling system.Mr. Jain has noted that the Kavach has been certified for the highest level of Safety Integrity Level — (SIL4) by the Independent Safety Assessor (ISA) to avert train collisions in block sections and on running lines at stations. The operationalisation of ‘Kavach’ also reduces the incidents of Signal Passing At Danger (SPAD) thereby ensuring the safety of train operations. He also informed that the zone is planning to upgrade the KAVACH version to 4.0 in the near future, he said.The General Manager also inspected the Umdanagar railway station and reviewed passenger amenities and circulating area. He discussed about the development plans for the Umdanagar station keeping in mind the future needs and demands. Already ‘Kavach’ has been deployed to an extent of 1,465 km in the last couple of years. Principal chief signal & telecom engineer Saurabh Bandopadhyaya and other senior officials, including Lokesh Vishnoi, V.N.M Rao and others participated in the programme, said a press release.Vande Bharat 2.0Meanwhile, the Indian Railways has also stated that the new Vande Bharat train sets are the ‘2.0’ version of lesser weight (38 tonnes less at 392 tonnes), better air suspension, all class seats can be reclined and with ‘Kavach’ protection. The train also has an anti-virus cleansing system, higher battery backup of up to three hours, better air-cooling, a maximum speed of 180 kmph as against 160 kmph and can reach from 0 to 100 in 52 seconds when compared to 54.6 seconds in the first set of trains.54 VB trains are running (108 services) across the country covering 280 districts and have carried over 3.17 crore passengers in around 36,000 trips. Six new services — Tatanagar–Patna, Brahmapur–Tatanagar, Rourkela–Howrah, Deoghar–Varanasi, Bhagalpur-Howrah and Gaya-Howrah Vande Bharat have joined service today, the release added. Published – September 15, 2024 05:50 pm IST