Hyderabad: The Centre has greenlit a new research hub in Secunderabad aimed at strengthening railway safety using homegrown tech, earmarking ₹265 crore for the project.
Set up as a ‘Centre of Excellence’, the facility will spearhead advancements in ‘Kavach’—an automatic train protection system that kicks in to prevent collisions, signal jumps, and other mishaps often caused by human error. Kavach works by automatically applying brakes when it detects a threat, making India’s rail network safer to navigate.
The centre, already up and running at the Indian Railways Institute of Signal Engineering and Telecommunications in Secunderabad, will double up as a training centre for railway staff and an innovation hub. Projects include loco-to-loco communication and new-age braking systems.
There are also plans to team up with engineering colleges in Hyderabad to roll out specialised rail tech courses, giving students hands-on exposure to the challenges and solutions shaping modern rail transport.