March 2026 deadline set to train all S&T officers on Kavach

The Indian Railways Institute of Signal Engineering and Telecommunications (IRISET) has drawn up a comprehensive plan to train all Signal &Telecom officers in all railway zones across the country by March 31, 2026, to accelerate the roll-out of ‘Kavach’, the indigenously developed automatic train protection system.

Director General Sharad Kumar Srivastava informed that eight additional one-week crash courses have been scheduled this year, while six specialised training programmes focusing on ‘Loco Kavach’ fitment were organised for officers and supervisors from electric loco-sheds.

Senior officials across the zones are currently taking part in the appreciation programs on Kavach since July, and in-house training has commenced for all faculty members to build internal capacity and future readiness. The training on Kavach has expanded its reach with programmes for cross-functional departments and the industry stakeholders, he said.

The Centre of Excellence (CoE) for ATP-Kavach at the institute, in the meantime, continues to lead innovations such as Development of the Kavach-Electronic Interlocking interface, advancements in radio communication, standardisation of braking algorithms, virtual reality based simulations etc., said the DG.

Two new Electronic Interlocking (EI) labs were commissioned this year and integrated block working with EI systems has been facilitated. This has been collaborated with Kavach OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) to ensure compatibility with various systems to accelerate deployment nationwide. A new state-of-the-art LTE lab with advanced hands-on tools, deployment of an Asterisk-based VOIP exchange using open-source technologies, better simulation facilities and software upgrades have been made.

Mr. Srivastava said this year, 172 programmes were held to train 4,531 personnel. About 624 industry professionals have also been trained in railway signalling, telecom and Kavach technologies. IRISET has also signed pacts with six more engineering institutions, introducing railway signaling and Kavach modules into B.Tech curricula, said a press release.