'You couldn't install ATP for even 1 km in 58 yrs': Ashwini Vaishnaw loses cool, takes on Congress on rollout of Kavach

Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who has been facing flak over train accidents and the slow rollout of the Kavach system, on Thursday tried to turn the tables by asking the Congress-led Opposition why it could not install automatic train protection (ATP) device even for 1 km during its 58 years of rule. He said countries like Germany, France, and Belgium with smaller railway networks had covered their tracks with protection devices in 1970-80s but India could not do it even till 2014.    

"Accidents are bad. No one feels good about witnessing such situations. Opposition MPs have asked for numbers, so I am presenting them. During the UPA tenure, there used to be around 171 accidents per year on average. This has decreased by about 68%. However, we should not be satisfied with this and are committed to reducing it further. Those speaking this way should be asked why they couldn’t install ATP even for one kilometer during their 58 years of rule," Vaishnaw said while speaking in the Lok Sabha.  

"Today, they dare to ask these questions. They should first look at their tenure and introspect. In this very House, when Mamata Ji was the Railway Minister, she used to announce accident numbers. There was applause when the index reduced from .24 to .19. Today, the index has reduced from .19 to .03, yet they are making such accusations. Can the country run like this? It cannot work like this."

During his reply, the minister lost his cool and accused the Congress of deploying its 'troll army' to target the railways. "The Congress has strategically started raising even the smallest issues through their social media troll army. When a part of the old wall at Ayodhya Ji station got slightly damaged, the handles of the Samajwadi Party and Congress immediately started raising it. How can the country run with such lies? Two crore passengers travel daily; do they (Congress and SP) want to instill fear in them? The Congress, which is busy setting up a shop of lies, their shop will not run. Sometimes they demean the army, and sometimes they demean the railways. This politics will not work," he said. 

Vaishnaw sought to give some background on railway protection devices, which several countries installed decades ago but India could not implement. He said train protection for safety is called ATP - Automatic Train Protection. Across the world, whether you look at Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, or Japan, ATP systems started being implemented in the 1970s, he said. 

"By the 1980s-1990s, almost all major railway systems in the world had covered their entire railway network with ATP systems. These systems have undergone many modernizations, but the main point of ATP is that if the driver misses a signal due to increasing train speeds—initially trains used to run at 30-40 km/h, but now they run at 100-110-120-160 km/h — then the driver has time to see the signal. This is why the whole world implemented this technology in the 1970s and 1980s. Unfortunately, during the 58-year tenure of Congress, this technology could not be implemented on even one kilometer of India's railway network until 2014."

The minister further stated that when anti-collision devices were introduced in 2006, they were installed on 1500 kilometers of tracks. However, he said, the primary point of any safety system is SIL - Safety Integrity Level Certification. "Unfortunately, the anti-collision devices did not have this certification. After trying to improve it for seven years, in 2012, it was abandoned." 

Targeting the Congress, Vaishnav said the focus that should have been given to an important system like the railways was not there. "That focus is present today. Therefore, as soon as Modi Ji took responsibility in 2014, the first thing he did in 2015 was to pledge to develop an Automatic Train Protection System. The first trials of Kavach were conducted in 2016. It received certification in 2019. Despite COVID-19, extended trials were conducted in 2020-21. Three manufacturers were developed, and in 2022, the first major project of 3000 kilometers was rolled out. After learning from the experience during the implementation, Kavach version 4.0 was approved on 17th July.

"Today, we have three manufacturers who have scaled up their manufacturing. Two new manufacturers are about to join. Over 8000 engineers and technicians have been trained. The Kavach curriculum has been included in six universities. Because this requires not only a lot of technical capacity but also talent, manpower, and design. All the arrangements needed for installing, commissioning, and expanding Kavach have been made. We are in the process of tendering about 9000 kilometers on a large scale, and about 10000 locomotives will start getting equipped in the coming months," the minister said. 

"Our railway network is over 70,000 kilometers long. Countries with much smaller railway networks have taken 20 years to install ATP systems. I want to assure the entire country that we will leave no stone unturned in rolling out Kavach," the minister said.