Indian Railways has missed its December 2025 deadline for installing the Kavach automatic train protection system on the critical New Delhi-Mumbai and New Delhi-Howrah routes, marking the second postponement of this ambitious safety initiative. Railway officials now target 2026 for full operationalization, citing significant progress with approximately 25% of the work commissioned and 738 route km operational.

Kavach System Overview and Progress

Kavach represents an indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system designed as a highly technology-intensive safety solution. The system assists locomotive pilots in maintaining specified speed limits through automatic brake application when manual intervention fails. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw provided detailed progress updates to the Lok Sabha on December 17, highlighting substantial achievements in system deployment.

The current operational status shows impressive infrastructure development:

Timeline Revisions and Current Status

The project has experienced multiple deadline adjustments, reflecting the complexity of implementing advanced safety technology across India's vast railway network. The Railway Ministry initially announced completion by March 2025 on August 7, 2024, subsequently extending the deadline to December 2025 through a budget document released February 1, 2025.

Kavach Version 4.0 has been successfully commissioned on two critical sections:

Technology Development and Deployment Scale

The Kavach system has undergone extensive development since its initial field trials on passenger trains began in February 2016. Indian Railways adopted it as the National ATP system in July 2020, following successful trials of version 3.2 on 1,465 routes across South Central Railway. The experience gained from these trials enabled the launch of the enhanced 4.0 version on July 16, 2024.

The current deployment scope encompasses 15,512 route km covering all Golden Quadrilateral (GQ), Golden Diagonal (GD), and High Density Network (HDN) sections. Additionally, bids have been invited for equipping another 9,069 locomotives with Kavach version 4.0, demonstrating the phased implementation approach adopted by Indian Railways.

Industry Capacity and Future Outlook

Railway officials acknowledge significant challenges in scaling up installation capacity to meet the ambitious timeline. Initially, only three companies held approval for Kavach installation on the Indian Railways network. The approved vendor base has now expanded to over five companies, with expectations of exceeding 20 approved vendors by 2026.

Officials emphasize the need for substantial capacity expansion, stating that Indian Railways requires more than 50 original equipment manufacturers to expedite the installation process across the 78,000 km broad-gauge network, which continues expanding with new areas being added to the rail network. This infrastructure development represents a critical safety enhancement for India's railway system, addressing the growing need for technical aids to minimize human error risks as train operations increase significantly.

Indian Railways has unveiled a comprehensive infrastructure expansion plan aimed at doubling the originating capacity of trains across 48 major cities by 2030. The ambitious initiative responds to sustained growth in travel demand and will be implemented through phased development over the next five years, allowing benefits to accrue progressively.

Four-Pronged Development Strategy

The expansion plan encompasses four distinct types of infrastructure work designed to comprehensively address capacity constraints:

Integrated Urban Planning Approach

The capacity planning strategy extends beyond individual stations to include nearby stations, ensuring balanced traffic distribution across urban networks. A notable example is Pune, where the plan incorporates Hadapsar, Khadki, and Alandi stations in addition to expanding platforms and stabling lines at the main Pune station. This integrated approach aims to optimize the entire urban rail network rather than focusing solely on primary terminals.

Implementation Timeline and Coverage

While the final target year is set for 2030, the railway authorities will implement capacity increases in phases over the next five years. Actions will be categorized into immediate, short-term, and long-term initiatives. The exercise covers both suburban and non-suburban traffic, with each zonal railway responsible for preparing comprehensive plans and addressing operational constraints in stations and yards.

Cities Covered Under the Plan

The comprehensive expansion covers 48 cities across India, including major metropolitan areas and significant urban centers:

Major Metropolitan Cities: Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune, Nagpur

Regional Centers: Patna, Lucknow, Varanasi, Kanpur, Gorakhpur, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Indore, Bhopal, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Cochin, Guwahati

Cultural and Religious Centers: Mathura, Ayodhya, Agra, Ujjain, Haridwar, Puri, Tirupati

Industrial and Commercial Hubs: Amdavad, Vadodara, Surat, Vishakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Coimbatore, Tatanagar, Ranchi, Raipur

Administrative Framework

Zonal railways will prepare comprehensive plans for their respective cities and submit them to the Planning Directorate. These plans will detail proposed, planned, and already sanctioned works required to achieve the capacity doubling target within the specified timeframe. Each zonal railway will also focus on increasing sectional capacity and resolving operational bottlenecks in stations and yards to ensure smooth implementation of the expansion program.