12 March,2026 12:35 PM IST | Mumbai | Ranjeet Jadhav
The workshop aimed to strengthen coordination between conservation agencies and infrastructure authorities. Pic/Special Arrangement
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), through its Project Elephant Division, organised a two-day national workshop on 'Policy Implementation for Minimising Elephant Mortalities on Railway Tracks' at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in Dehradun on March, 10-11 2026.
An official statement said that at the event, around 40 participants, including senior officials from MoEFCC, the Ministry of Railways, forest departments of elephant-range states and conservation scientists. Representatives from several major railway zones also took part, including the East Central Railway, East Coast Railway, North Eastern Railway, North East Frontier Railway, Northern Railway, South Eastern Railway, Southern Railway and South Western Railway.
India supports more than 60 per cent of the world's population of Asian Elephant. Major elephant habitats extend across eastern, north-eastern, southern and central regions of the country, an official statement said
However, expanding railway infrastructure and increasing habitat fragmentation have resulted in a rise in elephant fatalities on railway tracks. States such as Assam, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand have reported several such incidents.
The workshop aimed to strengthen coordination between conservation agencies and infrastructure authorities while promoting science-based mitigation strategies, officials said on Thursday.
To tackle the issue, MoEFCC, in collaboration with WII and the Ministry of Railways, has identified 110 sensitive railway stretches across elephant habitats, along with 17 additional stretches in two tiger-range states.
Joint field surveys conducted by teams from Project Elephant, WII, state forest departments and Indian Railways assessed ecological conditions at each site and recommended location-specific mitigation measures.
A total of 127 railway stretches covering approximately 3,452.4 kilometres were analysed. Of these, 77 stretches spanning about 1,965.2 kilometres across 14 states were prioritised for mitigation based on wildlife movement patterns and the risk of animal collisions, the statement said.
It said that the experts recommended a comprehensive package of infrastructure interventions aimed at facilitating safe wildlife movement across railway corridors. These include-
- 503 ramps and level crossings
- 72 bridge extensions or modifications
- 39 fencing or trenching structures
- 4 exit ramps
- 65 new underpasses and
- 22 overpasses
In total, 705 mitigation structures have been proposed to reduce wildlife-train collisions and allow animals to cross railway lines safely.
Several railway expansion projects have already incorporated wildlife-friendly designs.
Examples include the Gevra Road-Pendra Road railway line passing through the Achanakmar-Amarkantak Elephant Corridor in Chhattisgarh. Other projects include the Darekasa-Salekasa railway track tripling initiative and the Nagbhid-Itwari gauge conversion project in Maharashtra, the statement said.
The Wadsa-Gadchiroli railway line in Maharashtra also intersects the Kanha-Navegaon-Tadoba-Indravati Tiger Corridor, making wildlife mitigation measures particularly important.
One of the most significant planned interventions concerns a 3.5-kilometre stretch of the Azara-Kamakhya railway line in Assam.
The section passes through the Rani-Garbhanga-Deepor Beel Elephant Corridor, an area that has recorded multiple elephant fatalities in the past. Authorities plan to elevate this stretch of railway track to allow elephants to move freely beneath it.
Authorities are also testing advanced technological systems to prevent wildlife-train collisions.
One such innovation is the Distributed Acoustic System (DAS)-based Intrusion Detection System (IDS) being deployed across sensitive railway sections in elephant landscapes.
Pilot installations have already been commissioned in four sections under the North East Frontier Railway, covering about 64.03 kilometres of elephant corridors and 141 kilometres of railway block sections in Assam. The technology is now being expanded to sensitive railway areas in North Bengal and parts of Odisha under the East Coast Railway, it said.
Another notable initiative is an AI-based early-warning system deployed in Madukkarai in Tamil Nadu. The system uses a network of 12 tower-mounted cameras equipped with thermal imaging and motion sensors to detect elephants within 100 metres of railway tracks and alert forest and railway officials so trains can slow down.
The workshop featured technical sessions covering elephant ecology, infrastructure planning and biodiversity conservation.
Participants examined state-level data, case studies and major drivers of wildlife-train collisions, including habitat fragmentation, land-use changes, high train speeds, night-time operations and seasonal elephant movements.
Regional working groups also reviewed mitigation efforts across major landscapes such as the Shivalik-Gangetic Plains, Central India and Eastern Ghats, North-East India and the Western Ghats, the statement said.
Experts highlighted best practices including early-warning systems, AI and sensor-based monitoring technologies, GIS-based wildlife tracking and community-based alert networks.
Participants stressed the need for closer collaboration between railway authorities, forest departments and scientific institutions.
It further said that the workshop called for standardised protocols for risk assessment, improved monitoring systems, enhanced data sharing and quicker response mechanisms in collision-prone areas.
Experts also recommended expanding research on AI-based detection and remote sensing technologies while developing a national roadmap under Project Elephant and the Ministry of Railways to reduce elephant-train collisions through coordinated, science-driven efforts.
