New Delhi, Mar 12 (PTI) The Environment Ministry and Railways have identified 110 sensitive stretches across elephant ranges and 17 additional stretches in two tiger-range states, to prevent wildlife–train collisions, officials said on Thursday.
Several technology-based solutions are also being tested to prevent such collisions, they said.
Comprehensive joint field surveys, conducted by teams from Project Elephant, Wildlife Institute of India (WII), state forest departments and Indian Railways, evaluated site-specific ecological conditions and proposed targeted mitigation measures tailored to each location.
“Based on a detailed assessment of 127 railway stretches covering 3,452.4 km, 77 stretches spanning 1,965.2 km across 14 states were prioritised for mitigation, considering wildlife movement patterns and the risk of animal mortality,” a senior ministry official said.
The recommended mitigation package for these priority stretches includes 503 ramps and level crossings, 72 bridge extensions and modifications, 39 fencing or trenching structures, four exit ramps, 65 new underpasses and 22 overpasses, the official said.
“This amounts to a total of 705 mitigation structures designed to facilitate safe wildlife passage and reduce collisions,” he added.
The official further said that several technology-based solutions are also being tested and implemented to prevent wildlife–train collisions.
“One notable innovation is the Distributed Acoustic System (DAS)-based Intrusion Detection System (IDS) being deployed along sensitive railway stretches across elephant landscapes,” he said.
Pilot installations have been successfully commissioned in four sections under the North East Frontier Railway, covering a total of 64.03 km of elephant corridors and 141 km of railway block sections in Assam, he added.
“The system is now being replicated in sensitive railway sections in North Bengal and in parts of Odisha under the East Coast Railway. Another promising intervention is the AI-based early-warning system deployed at Madukkarai in Tamil Nadu, which uses a network of 12 tower-mounted cameras equipped with thermal and motion-sensing technology,” the official said.
He also said that the system detects elephant movement within 100 metres of railway tracks and automatically alerts forest and railway officials, enabling trains to slow down and allowing elephants to cross safely.
The updates were shared during a two-day workshop organised by the Ministry in collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India on “Policy Implementation for Minimising Elephant Mortalities on Railway Tracks”.
Additionally, several new railway lines and expansion projects – including track doubling and tripling – have incorporated wildlife-friendly infrastructure.
These include the Gevra Road-Pendra Road railway line passing through the Achanakmar-Amarkantak elephant corridor in Chhattisgarh; the Darekasa-Salekasa railway track tripling project and the Nagbhid-Itwari gauge conversion project in Maharashtra.
A particularly significant intervention is planned along a 3.5-km sensitive stretch of the Azara-Kamakhya railway line in Assam, intersecting the Rani-Garbhanga-Deepor Beel elephant corridor where several elephant mortalities had occurred in the past.
This section will be elevated to enable safe elephant movement across the corridor. PTI GJS DIV OZ OZ
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