changeadminIn the 5 financial years (between 2019-20 and 2023-24), a total of 81 elephants in India have died due to train collisions.
According to data collated from State Governments and Union Territory Administrations, India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) provided this information in Parliament.
MoEFCC, in coordination with the Ministry of Railways, has taken several measures to prevent elephant deaths on railway tracks, including conducting inter-ministerial meetings.
Speed restrictions in elephant habitats, pilot projects like seismic sensor-based elephant detection, and construction of underpasses, ramps, and fencing have been undertaken at various locations.
Further, the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, in consultation with the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change and other stakeholders, has published a document, namely ‘Eco-friendly Measures to Mitigate Impacts of Linear Infrastructure’, to assist project agencies in designing linear infrastructure, including railways lines, in a manner that reduces human-animal conflicts.
Capacity-building workshops for Railway officials were conducted in 2023 and 2024 at the Wildlife Institute of India to sensitise them on various aspects of elephant conservation and protection.
A comprehensive report titled “Suggested Measures to Mitigate Elephant & Other Wildlife Train Collisions on Vulnerable Railway Stretches in India” has been prepared after field surveys across 127 identified railway stretches spanning a total of 3,452.4 km.
Based on the intensity of wildlife movement, 77 railway stretches covering 1,965.2 km across 14 States have been prioritised for mitigation along with site-specific interventions.
The report containing the details of the identified stretches and the mitigation measures has also been shared with the State Governments and the Ministry of Railways.
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