The
court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by advocate Vishal
Tiwari, raising concern over the passenger safety and efficacy of the
anti-collision system
The Supreme Court has appreciated the
steps taken by the Centre and Indian Railways to prevent train accidents,
including the development of automatic train protection system ‘Kavach’ to
avoid collisions, as it disposed of a petition that raised several
issues related to passenger safety in the wake of a triple-train accident in
Odisha last June that claimed 293 lives. “We appreciate the steps
taken by the Railways. That being so, we
are satisfied that the initiation of these proceedings in public interest has
achieved the purpose and the issues have been adequately addressed by the Union
of India and the Railways,” a bench headed by justice Surya Kant said on April
15.
Kavach, an
indigenous system developed in March 2022, seeks to control the speed of the
train by automatic application of brakes in case the loco pilot ignores the
signal to stop and over-speeds.