COIMBATORE: As part efforts to prevent death of elephants on railway tracks, the Tamil Nadu forest department will start work on installing artificial intelligence (AI) based cameras in Madukkarai to warn loco pilots about animal presence.
Twelve 360 degree hybrid thermal cameras will be fixed along the 7km railway tracks A and B at Boluvampatti block I reserve forest at a cost of Rs 7.2 crore. The places identified for fixing the cameras are spots frequently used by elephants to cross the tracks.
Each camera would be fixed on 15-20m high towers and they can capture visuals up to two km away. The visuals would be displayed on a monitor in the control room and give a clear image if it was elephant, leopard or spotted deer.
“Field-level staff would get an alert message with a siren when an animal reaches the yellow zone which is 150m from the track. When the elephants reach the orange zone (100m from the track), the forest range officer and railway station master will get a message. The loco pilot will be alerted to stop the train when the elephant is within 50m of the track,” explained an official from the Coimbatore forest division.
“Display boards are also planned to be set up in the entry and exit spots of vulnerable areas, to alert loco pilots about elephant movement,” he added.
The private company which has taken up the work has installed cameras to detect human presence to prevent poaching in Kaziranga national park at Assam and Tiger reserve in Bhopal. It will complete the work in Coimbatore in four months.
Currently, the construction of an underpass by the Railway department to facilitate easy and safe access for elephants at km 505A/400-500 in railway line B is progressing. “Construction of the underpass will be completed in the next few months and works on two watchtowers are in the completion stage,” said the official.
Sources in the forest department said they are also in discussion to give direct messages to the loco pilots through a wireless system to stop the train in advance whenever the elephants stand on the railway tracks.
Deadly tracks
6Total number of train hit incidents since 2008
11Total number of wild elephants killed
While one incident occurred in Reserve Forest (RF) and the remaining occurred in outside RF