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Elite Precast Concrete are one of the UK’s leading precast concrete manufacturers combining the highest levels of customer service with always being the best value option.

Our focus is on driving down the cost base and then passing these savings onto our customers. This enables us to provide constant and predictable price structures which in turn underpin our ethos of developing customer relationships over the long term.

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We were also the first and by far the largest manufacturer of interlocking blocks for various temporary works; fire breaks; retaining, blast and push walls and also, by offering three block types, you can be certain that we have the solution you are looking for.

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Reliability numbers are impressive: The station equipment achieves 60,000 hours between failures, and the train equipment is slightly less at 40,000 hours. An overall availability of 99.9% is achieved. The vital computer equipment, the fixed and remote interface units, the power supply units, and the communication modules are all duplicated.

An interesting facility which adds to the ATP system is the automatic calculation of train length. This is achieved by having time stamps for the pick and drop of track circuits, which, together with train speed, enables the calculation to be made. It is accurate enough for ATP but would need some refinement if ever used for ATO.

Comparisons

On reading all of this it would be easy to ask why, if the Indian system performs similarly to ETCS, Indian Railways did not use this? It is a fair question but there are logical answers. The first and most fundamental response is that KAVACH is intended as an overlay to the existing signalling regardless of the type of signalling installed. Train operation will continue whether or not the ATP system is there to support it. As indicated earlier, KAVACH is much cheaper, thus improving the business case for investment. Being piecemeal, it is also much easier to install and commission since it can be introduced on sections of line that are being upgraded without the whole route having to be commissioned.

There are also technical differences:

ETCS

KAVACH

Requires a centralised track side architecture Has a distributed track side architecture

Collision detection via train-to-train communication is not possible as there is no absolute location usage

The Eurobalise enables odometer correction, but these are expensive and large in size

With absolute location as a feature, train to train communication is possible

Similarly, the RFID tags enable odometer correction but the tags are much cheaper and smaller

Signal displays on the driver’s DMI are not provided Signal aspects are shown on the DMI

ETCS is facilitated through the GSM-R radio, likely to be replaced by multiple frequency bands with forthcoming adoption of 5G as part of FRMCS

Interoperability is a requirement to facilitate cross border working between adjacent countries

System uses frequencies in the 406-470MHz UHF band with five duplex frequency channels allocated to the railways

India is big enough not to require interoperability with adjacent states although the equipment procured from different suppliers must be compatible

Deployment and the future

To date, KAVACH has been installed on 1,365km of route and 131 traction units have been equipped. Contracts are let for a further 2200 route kilometres and the equipping of 580 locomotives.

Development is underway to interface KAVACH with electronic interlockings, to integrate the system into traffic management systems, and to consider how the system will work with a new railway radio network that will utilise LTE standards.

The Indian Railway’s engineers are to be congratulated on producing a pragmatic and cost effective technology that will be part of the plans for greater capacity and enhanced speeds on its rail network. The old adage ‘where there is a will there is a way’ must truly apply to this project.

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1923