The Western Railways (WR) is set to complete installation of KAVACH, the indigenous automatic train protection (ATP) system, in all its locomotives by December 2025.

According to Railway officials, “KAVACH has already been fitted in 168 locomotives — 50 under Central Railways (CR) and 118 under WR.” The large-scale rollout will cover 730 CR locomotives and 850 WR locomotives, with WR confirming a firm deadline while CR has yet to announce one.

KAVACH has been designed to improve operational safety by preventing “signal passing at danger” (SPAD), over-speeding, and collisions. The technology works on radio links, gathering real-time signalling inputs and location data from locomotives. Based on this, it enforces “movement authority” (MA) limits, which define permission to move on a track section within specified speed and safety parameters. This mechanism ensures smoother, safer, and more efficient train operations.

On August 31, CR achieved a key milestone when KAVACH was installed in its 50th locomotive, marking steady progress in implementation.