Watch: With Railway Minister on board, speeding trains successfully tests anti-collision system 'Kavach'- Video

'Kavach', the indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system, will be deployed across the entire rail network beginning with 2,000 km in 2022-23 fiscal.

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To test the new 'Kavach' technology, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw boarded a train hurtling towards another train. The Chairman of the Railway Board was on the opposite train. However, thanks to 'Kavach,' the two trains did not collide.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Friday that the indigenously created Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system, dubbed 'Kavach,' will be deployed over the whole rail network starting with 2,000 km in the fiscal year 2022-23 and increasing to 4,000 to 5,000 km every year after that.

The Railways are promoting 'Kavach,' which literally means armour, as the world's cheapest automatic train collision protection technology.

As part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative, 2,000 km of the rail network will be brought under 'Kavach' for safety and capacity augmentation in 2022-23, as announced in the Union Budget for 2022.

#WATCH | Hyderabad: Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw witnessed the functioning of 'Kavach' an indigenously designed Automatic Train Protection system.

(Video Source: Ministry of Railways) pic.twitter.com/8oypYVvB9T — ANI (@ANI) March 4, 2022

"In the budget, 2,000 km has been approved, and in subsequent years, 'Kavach' will be deployed in 4,000-5,000 km every year," Vaishnaw told reporters after inspecting the working of 'Kavach' between the Lingampalli-Vikarabad section of Secunderabad division, South Central Railway.

"It is designed, developed and manufactured in India and will be deployed in India and exported to the world", he said. So far, 'Kavach' has been deployed on over 1,098 route km and 65 locos in ongoing projects of the South-Central Railway.

'Kavach' is a system that automatically brings a train to a stop when it detects another train on the same line within a set distance. When the computerised system detects any manual error, such as "jumping" the red signal or any other failure, trains will automatically stop.

'Kavach' was created in partnership with the Indian industry by the Research Design and Standards Organization (RDSO).

With inputs from PTI