Over 94,000 railway staff, including 57,000 loco pilots, trained on Kavach technology

Indian Railways has recorded a sharp decline in consequential train accidents over the past decade, driven by increased safety spending, modernised infrastructure and the rollout of the indigenous Kavach automatic train protection system, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

According to data shared by the minister, consequential train accidents fell from 135 in 2014-15 to just 16 in 2025-26 — an 88 percent reduction — with only 2 such accidents recorded up to June 2026 in the current fiscal year. The Consequential Accident Index, which measures accidents as a ratio of total train kilometres run, also dropped from 0.11 in 2014-15 to 0.01 in 2025-26, a 91 percent improvement.

The minister attributed the improvement to a steady rise in safety-related expenditure, which has grown from Rs 39,200 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 1,20,389 crore budgeted for 2026-27.

Vaishnaw detailed a series of safety measures implemented across the network. Electrical/electronic interlocking systems with centralised control of points and signals have been installed at 6,671 stations as of June 30, 2026, while 10,395 level crossing gates have been interlocked to reduce accident risk. Complete track circuiting has also been extended to 6,671 stations to verify track occupancy electronically.

All locomotives are now fitted with Vigilance Control Devices to keep loco pilots alert, while GPS-based Fog Safety Devices have been provided to pilots operating in fog-prone areas — with the number of such devices rising from just 90 in 2014 to 31,693 by 2026, a 352-fold increase.

Comparing the decade before and after 2014, the minister noted that use of high-quality 60 kg rails rose nearly threefold to 1.63 lakh km, while installation of longer 260-metre rail panels increased almost ninefold to 87,219 km. Electronic interlocking coverage expanded more than fourfold to 3,691 stations.

Maintenance outcomes also improved significantly: weld failures dropped 93 percent from 3,699 in 2013-14 to 272 in 2025-26, while rail fractures fell 92 percent over the same period. All unmanned level crossings on broad gauge routes were eliminated by January 2019.

The minister provided a detailed update on Kavach, India's indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection system, which automatically applies brakes if a loco pilot fails to do so and helps trains run safely in poor weather. Adopted as the national ATP standard in July 2020, Kavach version 4.0 — approved in July 2024 — has now been commissioned across 2,569 route kilometres as of July 20, 2026, covering high-density sections of the Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah routes.

Trackside Kavach implementation work has been taken up on a further 21,858 route km covering Golden Quadrilateral, Golden Diagonal and high-density network routes, including sections of Southern Railway. So far, 11,253 km of optical fibre cable has been laid, 1,668 telecom towers installed, and Kavach has been provided in 6,153 locomotives, with work underway to extend coverage to 7,327 locomotives and 1,200 EMU/MEMU rakes.

More than 94,000 technicians, operators and engineers — including around 57,000 loco pilots and assistant loco pilots — have been trained on Kavach technology in collaboration with IRISET. Funds utilised on Kavach works stood at Rs 3,874 crore up to June 2026, with an allocation of Rs 2,066 crore for the current financial year.