Guwahati: An alert loco pilot of the Northeastern Frontier Railway (NFR) has saved a herd of wild elephants from colliding with a train, the Chief Public Relations Officer of the NFR Kapinjal Sharma said on Thursday.
He said that at least 60 elephants, including calves, were crossing the tracks when the incident took place around 8.30 PM on Wednesday. The Lumding-bound Kamrup Express was about to reach Lamsakhang station. "Seeing that the herd of elephants is crossing railway tracks between Habaipur and Lamsakhang station, the alert Loco Pilot and Assistant Loco Pilot applied emergency brakes," said Sharma.
The pilots of the train were also alerted by the artificial intelligence-based intrusion detection system (IDS) that has been in operation in that section. NF Railway has also planned to install the artificial intelligence (AI)-based Intrusion Detection System (IDS) gradually in all other elephant corridors spreading over NFR.
He said that the IDS system has already been immensely successful in saving the lives of many elephants approaching railway tracks from being hit by trains.
The IDS is an eco-sustainable solution to protect elephants and improve mobility in train operations. The system is based on AI, and existing optical fibres will be used as sensors to identify movements of wild animals at locations and alert control offices, station masters, gatemen, and loco pilots, he said.
"It uses a fibre optic-based acoustic system working on the principle of dialysis scattering phenomena to sense the real-time presence of elephants on the track. The AI-based software can monitor unusual movements up to 40 km on either side of the main unit (i.e., a total stretch of 80 km). Additionally, the IDS will help in detecting rail fractures, trespassing on railway tracks, and alerts about disaster mitigation due to unauthorised digging near railway tracks, landslides near tracks, etc.," he said.
He said that during the calendar year 2023, NFR has saved a total of 414 no. of elephants from collision, and from January to October 16, a total of 383 no. of elephants were saved from the collision on tracks.
