South Eastern Railway’s Kharagpur Electric Loco Shed has become the zone’s first shed to install and activate the Kavach automatic train protection system on conventional electric locomotives, strengthening safety controls across its operations. The shed has also introduced RFID tagging for freight locomotive assets to improve their digital identification and tracking.
According to South Eastern Railway, Kavach was successfully activated on 10 electric locomotives between 25 July and 1 October 2026. Installation has been completed on two additional locomotives, which are awaiting the completion of the commissioning process. Work is continuing on two more locomotives.
Kavach is an automatic train protection system designed to support safer train operations through several functions. These include automatic braking, prevention of Signal Passing At Danger (SPAD), control of trains exceeding prescribed speed limits and continuous signal information inside the driver’s cab through a Driver Machine Interface.
The system is intended to provide an additional layer of operational control by responding to defined safety conditions during train movement. Its functions are particularly relevant to the management of speed, signal compliance and driver information, all of which are central to safe railway operations.
The Kharagpur shed’s adoption of Kavach is part of South Eastern Railway’s wider effort to strengthen safety and reliability in train operations. The available details do not specify the routes on which the equipped locomotives will operate or the timetable for extending the system to other locomotives or sheds.
Alongside Kavach, the shed has become South Eastern Railway’s first facility to install RFID tags on locomotives used with conventional electric freight trains. RFID technology enables the automatic identification and digital tracking of locomotives and other related railway assets across railway premises and different locations.
Two locomotives at the Kharagpur Electric Loco Shed have so far been fitted with RFID tags, while work is under way on three others. The technology is expected to support better monitoring of the railway fleet and improve operational efficiency by creating a digital trail for tagged assets.
Together, the Kavach installations and RFID initiative link two separate operational needs: active safety support during train movement and improved visibility of locomotive assets across the railway network. South Eastern Railway has described both measures as steps towards strengthening safety, monitoring and operational efficiency. The next milestones are the commissioning of the two locomotives where Kavach installation is complete and the ongoing installation work on the remaining Kavach- and RFID-equipped locomotives.
