Context:
Recently, The Supreme Court of India gave the Centre four weeks to file a status report on measures taken to implement ‘Kavach’, an automatic train protection (ATP) system.
The death of over 288 passengers in the ghastly train accident on June 2 at Bahanaga Bazaar railway station in the Balasore district of Odisha has brought into sharp focus the safety mechanisms needed to prevent such tragedies.
Relevance:
GS III: Science and Technology
Dimensions of the Article:
- Kavach System: An Indigenously Developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) System
- Applications
Kavach System: An Indigenously Developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) System
- Developed by the Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) under Indian Railway (IR).
- Collaboration with Medha Servo Drives Pvt Ltd, HBL Power Systems Ltd, and Kernex Microsystems.
Components and Communication:
- Consists of electronic devices and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) devices.
- Installed in locomotives, signaling systems, and tracks.
- Communication between devices using ultra-high radio frequencies.
- Logic programming enables control of train brakes and driver alerts.
Field Tests:
- Railway conducted field tests for Kavach since 2016.
- Tests carried out on passenger trains.
Applications:
- Assisting locomotive pilots in avoiding Signal Passing At Danger (SPAD) and overspeeding.
- Alerting loco pilots and automatically applying brakes to halt the train when another train is detected within a set distance.
- Continuous relay of signals ahead for better visibility in low-visibility conditions.
- Automatic speed control by applying brakes if the loco pilot fails to do so.
- Supporting train operations during inclement weather, like dense fog.
-Source: The Hindu
