SC asks Attorney General on steps taken to implement ‘Kavach’ system to prevent railways accident

New Delhi [India]: The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked Attorney General of India R Venkatramani to apprise it of the steps the Central government has taken for the implementation of anti-collision systems including ‘Kavach’ to prevent railways accident.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and KV Viswanathan asked the Attorney General to inform it about the action being taken or proposed to be taken to ensure the safety of passengers.

The apex court asked the petitioner to hand over the petition to the Attorney General within two days and posted the case for hearing after four weeks.

Advocate Vishal Tiwari had filed a PIL seeking a probe into the Balasore triple train accident, in Odisha, by an expert panel headed by a retired judge of the apex court.

The Balasore train accident where two passenger trains and a goods carriage were involved claimed over 288 lives while over 1,000 people sustained injuries last year.

The PIL sought guidelines/directions for the implementation of the Automatic Train Protection (ATP) System called the KAVACH Protection System in Indian Railways with immediate effect to ensure public safety.

‘Kavach’ controls the speed of the train by automatic application of breaks in case the loco pilot fails to do so.

“Immediately to set up an expert commission headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court consisting of technical members to analyse and review the current risk and safety parameters in the railway system and to suggest systematic safety modifications for strengthening Railway safety mechanism and submit its report in two months to this court,” the PIL said.

The preliminary report on the tragedy said the three-way accident involved the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, the Coromandel Express and a goods train on three separate tracks at Bahanaga Bazar Station in Balasore district. As many as 17 coaches of these two passenger trains were derailed and severely damaged in the accident.