The government on Friday said that in January 2026, Indian Railways achieved a major milestone by installing the Kavach Version 4.0 safety system on 472.3 route kilometres in a single day in a single month, the highest ever so far.
The newly covered routes include Vadodara–Virar (344 km) on Western Railway, Tuglakabad Junction Cabin–Palwal (35 km) on Northern Railway, and Manpur–Sarmatanr (93.3 km) on East Central Railway. With this expansion, Kavach Version 4.0 now covers 1,306.3 route kilometres across five Indian Railways Zones, strengthening safety on major corridors such as the Delhi–Mumbai and Delhi–Howrah routes. Additional sanctioned works cover 2,667 route kilometres, with execution underway.
The system has been successfully tested through automatic braking trials. Further expansion is underway, including Vadodara–Nagda and Virar–Mumbai Central, and speed upgrades up to 160 kmph are planned under Mission Raftar.
Overall, Kavach has now been implemented on more than 2,200 route kilometres, reflecting a steady and accelerating expansion of India’s indigenous Automatic Train Protection system across the national rail network.
KAVACH is an indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system that provides train protection as well as collision prevention capabilities for trains.
The upcoming launch of KAVACH 5.0, an advanced safety and signaling system designed for suburban sections, has been announced in April 2025. It is expected to significantly reduce inter-train headway, enabling a higher frequency of train operations while maintaining safe and efficient movement.
Vande Bharat 4.0 is envisaged to incorporate Kavach 5.0, the next evolution of India’s indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system, as part of its advanced safety and technology framework.