The KERNEX-VRRC Consortium has received a Letter of Acceptance (LoA) for two major Kavach contracts from Southern Railways. The contract includes the provision and installation of the Kavach (Train Collision Avoidance System) at the Chennai division.
The total combined value of the Kavach Contracts is Rs 311.03 crore. Kernex holds a 60% share in the joint venture.
Contract 1 Details
Contract Value: Rs 173.11 crore
Contract Duration: 730 days
Length: 271 Kilometers
The contract includes the deployment of the Kavach system across the MAS-Gudur, MAS-Arakkonam, and Arakkonam, Renigunta sections within the Chennai Division.
Contract 2 Details
Contract Value: Rs 137.92 crore
Contract Duration: 540 days
The awarded contractor will be responsible for implementing Kavach, along with the construction of tower infrastructure and laying 48 optical fibre cables as the backbone network between Arakkonam and Jolarpettai within the Chennai Division.
Implementation Of Kavach System Across India
| SN | Items | Progress |
| i | Laying of Optical Fibre Cable | 5743 Km |
| ii | Installation of Telecom Towers | 540 Nos. |
| iii | Provision of Kavach at Stations | 664 Nos. |
| iv | Provision of Kavach in Loco | 795 Locos |
| v | Installation of trackside equipment | 3727 Rkm |
Kavach Implementation Future Plan
The estimated cost for installing Kavach equipment along the trackside, including at station locations, stands at approximately ₹50 lakh per route kilometre. Additionally, the cost of installing Kavach systems on locomotives is about ₹80 lakh per locomotive.
So far, a total expenditure of ₹1,950 crore has been incurred on Kavach-related works.
Next Phase
Under the next phase of implementation, Indian Railways has finalized a project to equip 10,000 locomotives with Kavach. To facilitate this, 69 locomotive sheds have been upgraded and prepared to carry out the installations.
Furthermore, tenders have been invited for the provision of trackside Kavach systems covering approximately 15,000 route kilometres (RKm), focusing on the Golden Quadrilateral (GQ), Golden Diagonal (GD), High-Density Network (HDN), and other strategically identified sections of the Indian Railways network. Out of this, contracts covering 1,865 RKm have already been awarded and are in various stages of execution.
