CHENNAI: An RTI reply from the Southern Railway has revealed that major signalling upgrades are happening on the Chennai Egmore–Thiruvananthapuram 805 route kilometre (Rkm) main line. Signalling developments like Kavach, automatic block signalling, electronic interlocking and centralised traffic control centre are also progressing well on the route in comparison to August last year.
Earlier in August 2025, Dayanand Krishnan, an RTI activist, who had filed an RTI on Interlocking systems, block signalling, Kavach and Centralised Traffic Control Centres (CTCC) implementation in the section and track utilisation in Tamil Nadu, had revealed that large sections of existing railway infrastructure are severely underutilised, mainly due to the absence of modern signalling and safety systems. A petition was filed in this regard in September.
"Implementing signalling systems can immediately increase line capacity and improve safety, and allow more passenger and freight trains without new track construction. On the 734-km Chennai Egmore–Tirunelveli/Kanniyakumari double-line corridor, nearly 85 per cent of the route already has double track, yet only 24 to 41 trains operate daily, translating to an average of just 1.37 trains per hour. Track utilisation ranges between 58 per cent and 81 per cent, far below international benchmarks," the petition said.
RTI data confirms that the lack of Automatic Block Signalling (ABS) and partial Electronic Interlocking (EI), the absence of Kavach, and CTCC were the primary constraints.
In an RTI reply on January 21, 2026, Southern Railway stated that major signalling upgrades on the Chennai Egmore– Thiruvananthapuram 805 Rkm main line route, 78 per cent is to be covered under 'Kavach' protection works. RTI reply from Various divisions of Southern Railway gave a comprehensive status update on the signalling modernisation projects for the high-density Chennai Egmore to Thiruvananthapuram corridor.
A comparison of infrastructure data between August 2025 and January 2026 revealed significant progress in the deployment of the indigenous Kavach protection system and the transition to Electronic Interlocking (EI) and ABS.
The upgrades are part of a strategic push to enhance safety and line capacity on one of Southern Railway's most critical operational routes.
"Without further delay, a time-bound Railway Board sanction for pending ABS and EI works, and corridor-level Kavach commissioning plan, not piecemeal proposals, will greatly help for capacity enhancement by doubling the train operations and safety in the Chennai Egmore and Thiruvananthapuram main section. Also, fast-tracking CTCC implementation to improve monitoring of EMU line capacity and punctuality, and public disclosure of division-wise milestones in signalling and Kavach implementation will ensure better service," Dayanand said.