Odisha train accident: Questions raised over failure of Kavach

Hyderabad: The horrifying train accident in which about 280 people lost lives and left hundreds injured raises many questions on the cause of accident.

The first question that comes to mind is what happened to the much hyped anti collision system? While a detailed probe has been ordered into the cause of accident, let us have a look at what exactly the anti collision system is.

KAVACH is an anti-collision technology developed in India to prevent train accidents. This anti-collision technology reduces the chances of an error to the margin of a single error in 10,000 years. Affirming the facts, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw previously said, "The indigenously-developed anti-collision technology is SIL4 certified, which means there is the probability of a single error in 10,000 years."

The KAVACH technology, in more technical terms, is known as Train Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) or Automatic Train Protection System (ATP) system. It is aimed at bringing down the number of rail accidents to zero. The technology has also received a SIL4 certification, reinforcing that it can reduce the chances of error to one in 10,000 years.