Rail safety: Spending triples to Rs 1.17 lakh cr in FY26; Kavach expanded, CCTV rollout scaled up

Safety expenditure on Indian Railways has nearly tripled over the past decade to Rs 1,17,693 crore in 2025-26 from Rs 39,200 crore in 2013-14, with the national transporter expanding deployment of indigenous train protection system Kavach and rolling out CCTV surveillance across coaches and locomotives, the government said in response to questions in the Rajya Sabha.Safety remains the highest priority for Indian Railways and the stepped-up investments have contributed to a steep decline in accidents over the years, according to information shared in the Rajya Sabha by Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.Trackside implementation of Kavach — an indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system — has been taken up across 23,360 route kilometres, covering the Golden Quadrilateral, Golden Diagonal, High Density Network and other identified sections of the rail network.Kavach assists loco pilots in operating trains within specified speed limits and automatically applies brakes if the driver fails to do so. It also enables safer operations during adverse weather conditions. The system was adopted as the national ATP system in July 2020.After extensive trials, Kavach Version 4.0 has been commissioned across 1,297 route kilometres, including key high-density corridors such as Delhi–Mumbai and Delhi–Howrah. The latest version improves location accuracy, enhances signal information handling in large yards, and enables direct interface with electronic interlocking systems.Indian Railways has also finalised tenders to equip 6,300 electric locomotives with Kavach Version 4.0, while another tender for 2,679 diesel locomotives is under finalisation. More than 48,000 personnel, including about 45,000 loco pilots and assistant loco pilots, have been trained on Kavach technology so far.The cost of providing trackside and station Kavach infrastructure is about Rs 50 lakh per km, while onboard locomotive equipment costs about Rs 80 lakh per loco. Funds utilised on Kavach works till December 2025 stood at Rs 2,573.36 crore, with Rs 1,673.19 crore allocated for 2025-26.Alongside, Indian Railways is expanding onboard surveillance to enhance passenger safety. Around 12,300 coaches — including all operational Vande Bharat and Amrit Bharat train rakes — and 460 locomotives have been equipped with CCTV cameras across the network.The installation of CCTV cameras is aimed at deterring vandalism, theft and other miscreant activities while assisting in incident investigation, with zonal railways and production units undertaking procurement and installation.