Government identifies 77 railway stretches for mitigation, sensor tech, underpasses and official training rolled out

A total of 81 elephants died in train collisions across India between 2019-20 and 2023-24. The government informed Parliament on 28 July (Monday). The fatalities reported by states and union territories have prompted intensified efforts by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the Ministry of Railways to curb such incidents.

Key interventions include speed restrictions in elephant habitats, construction of underpasses, ramps and fencing, and seismic sensor based detection systems at vulnerable sites.

Following a comprehensive field survey of 127 railway stretches (3,452.4 km), the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) identified 77 priority stretches across 14 states, covering 1,965.2 km, where elephant movement is most frequent. These stretches will now see site specific mitigation measures according to the data and steps were shared by Kirti Vardhan Singh, Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

A detailed report ‘Suggested Measures to Mitigate Elephant & Other Wildlife Train Collisions on Vulnerable Railway Stretches in India’ has been circulated to concerned state governments and the railways ministry for implementation. To support on-ground action, capacity-building workshops were held for railway officials at WII in 2023 and 2024 to raise awareness of elephant behaviour and safety protocols.

WII has published ‘Eco-friendly Measures to Mitigate Impacts of Linear Infrastructure’, a guidebook for integrating wildlife friendly designs into road and railway projects.