COIMBATORE: The Palakkad Railway Division is planning to construct two more underpasses in the Madukkarai forest range on the Tamil Nadu side to further strengthen the protection of wild elephants and to facilitate their free movement.
Two underpasses are already there beneath the railway line between Walayar and Ettimadai, but the risk of elephants getting hit by trains still persist as they move from one place to another in search of food and water.
"We had completed the construction of two underpasses for Rs 9.8 crore. The cost of the proposed underpasses would come to more than Rs 10 cr. After consulting the Tamil Nadu forest department, we will confirm the places to build them where elephants frequent between Walayar and the Ettimadai forest. We are monitoring animal movements through CCTV cameras set up in both the underpasses," said an official of the Palakkad railway division.
Railway sources said CCTV enables them to continue monitoring vulnerable sections. An alarm goes off in the room of the Walayar railway station manager if elephants are detected. Thereafter, loco pilots are alerted to operate trains with caution.
The railway corridor between Kottekkad in Kerala and Madukkarai in Tamil Nadu (between the Palakkad and the Podanur railway stations) runs through the reserve forests of the Western Ghats, an ecologically sensitive region and an important elephant corridor.
Twenty-nine elephants were killed between 2002 and till February 4 this year, the latest being a four-year-old male elephant that was hit by a train near Walayar on the Kerala side on Wednesday morning.
"There are speed restrictions of trains (65 kmph during day time and 45 kmph between 6pm to 6am) and signage to warn loco pilots about areas with elephant movements. Also ramps have been set up at different locations, each for a length of 1,100m. Fencing of tracks for four kilometres between Ettimadai and Walayar was also done," said an official of the Palakkad railway division.
"We have also set up 45 solar lights between Kanjikode and Ettimadai to improve the visibility of loco pilots to detect elephants at night. Works are in progress to set up the Elephant Intrusion Detection System (EIDS)," the official detailed measures to reduce the number of accidents involving elephants on railway tracks on the Tamil Nadu side.
RTI activist K Pandirajan urged the Railways to take steps to set up a permanent elevated corridor on this stretch with the help of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change so that wild elephants and other wild animals can walk freely and safely.
"I will be writing a letter to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a few days on the elephant death. The deaths of many small animals go unreported. I welcome the initiative of the forest department and the Railways in preventing elephant deaths on railway tracks in Tamil Nadu in the last three years, the last being in October 2022."
Kerala should replicate these projects, he suggested.