HT Bureau
GUWAHATI, Dec 25: The Northeast Frontier Railway has successfully protected the lives of more than 160 elephants from potential train accidents during 2025 through a series of proactive, technology-driven safety measures, officials said.
NFR has intensified efforts to prevent elephant dashing incidents by deploying an advanced Intrusion Detection System (IDS), an Artificial Intelligence-based technology that uses Distributed Acoustic System principles to detect elephant movement near railway tracks.
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The system sends real-time alerts to loco pilots and control rooms, enabling timely action to avert accidents.
The IDS has been commissioned across key elephant corridors in Assam and adjoining areas.
It is currently operational in four sensitive sections: the 24-km Kamakhya–Azara–Mirza stretch under Rangiya Division, the 52-km Madarihat–Nagrakata section under Alipurduar Division, the 32-km Habaipur–Lamsakhang–Patharkhola–Lumding stretch under Lumding Division and the 23-km Titabar–Mariani–Nakachari section under Tinsukia Division.
These installations together cover 62.7 km of elephant corridors and 131 km of block sections.
Officials said work is underway to expand the IDS across additional vulnerable stretches, including 92 km in Alipurduar, 25 km in Katihar, 174 km in Rangiya, 110 km in Lumding and 12 km in Tinsukia Division.
Once completed, the system will cover all elephant corridors under NFR, spanning 146.4 km with an overall block section length of 413.42 km.
Apart from IDS, NFR has implemented other preventive measures such as the ‘Plan Bee’ system, which uses amplified honeybee sounds near level crossing gates to deter elephants from approaching tracks.
Coordination with the Forest Department, night-time speed restrictions in elephant corridors, temporary speed curbs based on sightings, crew sensitisation, cautionary signage and vegetation clearance have also been strengthened.
At the national level, Indian Railways has begun expanding the AI-enabled IDS to other parts of the country after its successful pilot on NFR.
The expansion will cover an additional 981 route kilometres, taking total coverage to 1,122 route kilometres. Officials noted that since 2017, more than 2,000 elephants have been safely protected while crossing railway tracks across the NFR network.
