BHUBANESWAR: Days after Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav revealed the Centre’s decision on the use of tech-based interventions to check jumbo deaths in train collisions, the East Coast Railway (ECoR) announced the installation of Intrusion Detection System (IDS) in the elephant movement areas to prevent jumbo and other wildlife deaths on tracks in the region.
In the first phase, the project will be implemented on a 200 km stretch of six railway stations - Maneswar-Bamur, Turekela-Lakhna, Arand-Arang Mahanadi and Norla-Theruvali railway section in Sambalpur division and Kapilas Road-Rajathgarh-Angul, Rambha-Ganjam and Nayagarh-Porjanpur railway section in Khurda Road division.
ECoR officials said, acting on the direction of Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, they have adopted the innovative step to check elephant deaths on rail lines in their jurisdiction. ECoR has obtained a sanction of Rs 79.12 crore for installing IDS at sensitive locations of elephant passing zone and elephant corridors. IDS will help in detecting wild elephants approaching the railway tracks and alert railway officials to help avert mishaps.
The system uses a fibre optic-based acoustic system, working on the principle of scattering phenomenon, to sense the real-time presence of elephants on the track. The optical fibre act as a sensor to identify the movement of wild animals at locations and alert control offices, station masters, gatemen and loco pilots.
Official sources said the IDS can monitor unusual movements up to a stretch of 60 km. It will also help in detecting rail fractures, trespassing on railway tracks and alert about disaster mitigation due to unauthorised digging near railway tracks as well as landslides near the tracks.
According to Railway officials, Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) had first taken up this project on an experimental basis in the Chalsa-Hasimara railway section of the Dooars area under the Alipurduar division and between the Lanka-Hawaipur railway section under the Lumding division.
After the success of the pilot, NFR has now installed IDS in all its elephant corridors in Assam and North Bengal. The project has been immensely successful in saving the lives of many elephants, officials said.