7 elephants killed after Rajdhani Express derails near Assam's Kampur.
Credit: Special arrangement
Guwahati: At least seven wild elephants died after the New Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express hit a herd of wild elephants near Kampur in Assam's Hojai district in wee hours of Saturday, resulting in derailment of five coaches and the engine.
Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) officials said observing the herd, the loco pilot applied emergency brakes but that could not prevent the elephants being dashed at around 2.17am. There was no injury to passengers of the Sairang (Mizoram)-New Delhi Rajdhani Express, NFR said.
The mishap site is situated about 126km east of Guwahati.
Forest officials said the herd that probably came down from the nearby hills in search of food and water, dashed with the train at a time when there was dense fog.
A forest official said three adults and four jumbo calves died in the mishap.
The NFR said at least nine trains had to be cancelled and a few others short terminated following the mishap. Senior railway officials rushed to the spot to restore normal train movement.
Deaths on tracks:
Death of wild elephants due to train hits, particularly during winter, at several stretches in Assam and neighbouring North Bengal has become a worry. At least 67 elephants have died due to such mishaps involving trains in Assam between 2000 and 2023, according a survey by the Wildlife Institute of India. The NFR, however, said it prevented several such mishaps by adopting many measures including an AI-enabled system to track movement of elephants on some stretches. NFR said the site where the mishap took place is not a designated elephant corridor.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma instructed the forest department to conduct an inquiry into the incident and take preventive steps.
Bibhuti Prasad Lahkar, an eminent conservationist, who heads elephant research and conservation division at Aaranyak, a biodiversity conservation group, said both railway and the forest department should enhance coordination to prevent such mishaps. "Till the railways install the AI-enabled system in all the elephant corridors, they can engage volunteers to keep vigil along the tracks to prevent such incidents. Railway is a profit earning organisation and so it should also invest in the protection of our national heritage animal. It should be the responsibility of both the forest department and the Railways," Lahkar told DH.