In a written Lok Sabha reply, the Railways Ministry tabled a decade-plus trend of falling accidents alongside a long list of safety measures: Electrical/Electronic Interlocking at 6,671 stations, interlocking of 10,395 level-crossing gates, complete track circuiting at 6,671 stations, Vigilance Control Devices on all locomotives, GPS-based Fog Safety Devices, Ultrasonic Flaw Detection of rails, and replacement of ICF-design coaches with the safer LHB design (49,366 built between 2014-26, over 21 times the 2004-14 figure). All unmanned level crossings on Broad Gauge routes were eliminated by January 2019. A 'Rolling Block' system for planning maintenance up to 52 weeks in advance was introduced by Gazette notification on 30.11.2023. Kavach — the automatic braking layer on top of these physical and procedural measures — is being scaled up on the busiest trunk routes first.

Automatic Train Protection is a global railway-safety norm. Europe uses the European Train Control System (ETCS, typically Level 2), and the United States mandates Positive Train Control (PTC) on major freight and passenger routes. Kavach is India's indigenous, lower per-kilometre-cost alternative aiming for similar automatic-braking assurance, built domestically rather than imported.