Indian Railways has approved the installation of Kavach Version 4.0 on 598 route kilometres covering 48 block sections of the Ahmedabad Division of Western Railway in Gujarat.

The project has been sanctioned at a cost of Rs 1.4 billion (Rs 1.4 bn) and forms part of an umbrella programme for the provision of Kavach with an LTE-based communication backbone on the balance routes of Indian Railways.

Earlier approvals had covered about 702 route kilometres in the Ahmedabad Division and the present sanction will bring the remaining sections of the division under the system. The cumulative effect will be the wider deployment of the indigenous train protection system across the division and improved continuity of safety coverage along routes. Implementation will proceed under the ministry framework already in place.

Kavach is an indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system designed to enhance operational safety by preventing Signal Passing at Danger and by applying brakes automatically to avoid unsafe situations. The system also controls train speed in critical conditions and substantially reduces the risk of collisions through automated intervention. Integration with LTE communications improves responsiveness and reliability of train to ground information. The automated safeguards reduce the scope for human error and support safer timetabling and operational consistency without altering existing track infrastructure.

Indian Railways is progressively expanding Kavach across its network as part of efforts to strengthen safety and modernise train operations and signalling. The installation in the Ahmedabad Division complements existing safety measures and supports uniform standards of train protection across routes. The ministry will continue phased deployments to extend coverage and operational benefits. Deployment is managed within existing administrative structures and draws on domestic design and manufacturing for system components.