Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Tuesday said the Centre would work with state police forces and the NIA to take strict action against those responsible for alleged attempts at sabotaging trains. He interacted with reporters in Rajasthan’s Sawai Madhopur after inspecting a train fitted with the Kavach system, an automated system to avoid train collisions and ensure railway safety. Regarding reported sabotage attempts, Vaishnaw said, “I want to tell the people who would do this kind of derailment that instead of regional politics, they should think about the safety of passengers. If they won’t stop doing this, we will take action against them by working with state police and the NIA.” “There is dialogue going on with state governments, DGPs and home secretaries. The NIA is also involved. Strict action will be taken against anyone who tries to cause such an accident. This is our resolve,” he told reporters. Over the last few days, there have been a number of incidents of attempted sabotage, including “detonators” being discovered on railway tracks in Madhya Pradesh’s Ratlam, and gas cylinders being found on tracks near Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh. Regarding the Kavach system, Vaishnaw said it is the “way to proceed towards better train safety as this will help stop trains that are on the same track. We have spent a separate budget on security and safety of the trains. This is the priority of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.” After inspecting the train fitted with the system, he travelled from Sawai Madhopur to Sumerganj Mandi. He told reporters that systems like Kavach were first implemented in European countries in the 1960s and ‘70s. “It should have been implemented earlier in our country, but due to the indifference of the previous governments, this system did not become a reality. After the formation of the (Narendra) Modi government in 2014, the PM worked on it,” Vaishnaw said. The Kavach system, also known as an Automatic Train Protection System (ATP), has been developed by the Research Designs and Standards Organisation, and it can apply brakes automatically in an emergency when a train driver fails to act in time. According to the Railways, the Kavach 4.0 system will be implemented on the Delhi-Mumbai railway line in the first phase. In the coming years, Kavach systems will be installed in 10,000 locos, according to the Railways. - With PTI
