The Ministry of Railways has commissioned the indigenous train safety system Kavach Automatic Train Protection System on the Vadodara-Nagda stretch of the busy Delhi-Mumbai railway corridor.
The section falls under the jurisdiction of Western Railway.
The system has been activated across 224.51 route km between Vadodara and Nagda. This includes two operational segments: 122.5 route km between Vadodara and Mangal Mahudi, and 102.01 route km between Panchpipliya and Nagda.
Work is currently underway on the remaining stretch between Mangal Mahudi and Panchpipliya, which is expected to be completed soon, along with the installation of automatic signalling systems.
With this development, Kavach has now been installed across 559.5 route km out of the 693 km identified under Western Railway on the Mumbai-New Delhi main line as part of Mission Raftaar.
During the 2025-26 financial year, Western Railway alone commissioned the system across 659.5 route km. Earlier this year, the system was also made operational on the Vadodara-Virar section, extending coverage further along the corridor.
According to the zonal railway, the execution of the complex project on the Vadodara-Nagda section required meticulous planning for each station as well as every absolute and automatic signalling section.
More than 6,000 RFID tags were programmed and installed along the tracks as part of the system's implementation.
It further stated that continuous radio communication has been established among 26 stations, 13 block sections and locomotives.
In addition, a total of 39 radio towers along with the necessary supporting equipment have been installed to ensure seamless communication across the route.
To support the system's functioning, around 600 km of optical fibre cable has also been laid along the route in both directions. Kavach is designed to significantly improve rail safety by automatically applying brakes in critical situations.
It can prevent accidents caused by signal passing at danger, overspeeding, and potential head-on or rear-end collisions. The system also helps maintain safe operations even during low visibility and adverse weather conditions.