HYDERABAD: The South Central Railway (SCR) zone is yet to start the installation of Kavach, an automatic train protection system (ATP) also known as the Train Collision Avoidance System (TCAS), on the Warangal-Vijayawada-Balharshah route, as per sources.
A source said, “Around 100 to 150 trains take this route every day. It is also seen as a gateway to southern India and helps link it with the northern part of the country. Installing Kavach on the route can prevent a tragedy in the future.”
Sources said that the SCR, which has been successful in deploying the Kavach system across 1,465 km, leads nationwide in the implementation of the ATP. Of it, the highest — 626 rkms (route kilometres) — has been laid across three routes (the Dharmabad-Kacheguda-Alampur Road, Sanathnagar-Wadi and Vikarabad-Matalkaunta) in Telangana, accounting for one-fourth (25%) of the total deployment in the state.
Trains such as Telangana Express, Tamil Nadu Express, and Kerala Express ply on the route regularly. “Doubling of tracks has been done on the route, and now three tracks are being laid,” the source added.
As many as 159 locomotives have been equipped with Kavach, while 136 railway stations have been covered in the SCR zone, which has a total network of 2,014 km.
“Once deployed, Kavach will ease communication and make it faster. It helps centralise live monitoring of train movements and provides continuous updates on movement authority with the display of signal aspects in the loco pilot’s indication panel,” an SCR official said.
