In spite of precautionary measures adopted by the Railways, wild elephants continue to stray from the forests of Walayar and cross the railway tracks at night.
Though for the last two years there has not been any accidents involving wild elephants being hit by running trains, earlier there were several accidents involving groups of elephants being hit by running trains in the Kanjikode-Madukkarai belt on the Palakkad-Coimbatore stretch.
The Railways in association with the Forest Department had undertaken several measures like slowing down the trains and setting up solar fencing to separate railway tracks from forests. But as greenery and fodder dries up in the forests, the wild elephants still stray into the mainland .
Photographer Hariharan of Walayar who shot this scene of an elephant crossing the railway tracks in Walayar at 12.15 am on Sunday, at kms 210/29, in the ‘B’ line of the Palakkad - Coimbatore rail line at Walayar says that wild elephants know how to push down the solar fencing by pushing a tree on to it.
As the fencing flattens to the ground, the elephants tread carefully without touching the fence on to the main land.
The forest watchers repair the fence the next day and the elephants continue to push it down, he adds. He points out that this was the stretch where the maximum number of elephant causalities were reported.
The Ernakulam-Bangalore Intercity Express and the Cannanore-Coimbatore 610 passenger train passed the stretch within minutes of this crossing. Divisional Forest Officer K A Sainalubdheen said that the Forest Department has posted watchers to check the wild elephant menace and they patrol the area. Also, the fencing has been electrified over a distance of 20 kilometres from Kottayi to Madukkarai barring some small stretches .
The wild elephants also cross the tracks in the Kottekad-Kanjikode stretch and move to Venoli and Malampuzha destroying crops on the mainland, said Kannan, a farmer at Kottayi.
