Railways Misses Kavach Deadline on Key Routes, Eyes 2026 Completion

• Indian Railways missed the December 2025 deadline for Kavach installation on New Delhi-Mumbai and New Delhi-Howrah routes.
• Officials now aim to operationalize the indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system by 2026.
• Kavach helps loco pilots maintain speed limits and automatically applies brakes to prevent accidents.
• Significant progress includes 25% work commissioned, 738 Rkm of Kavach 4.0 operational, and extensive component installation.
• Challenges include limited approved vendors, with efforts to increase their number from 5+ to over 20 by 2026 to expedite deployment.

Why It Matters: Railways delays Kavach rollout on critical corridors to 2026, citing vendor challenges despite progress.