Indian Railways will be installing an AI-based surveillance system to stop elephant deaths on tracks.
The implementation of the ‘Gajraj System’ has been announced in forest areas of Assam, West Bengal, Odisha, Kerala, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Tamil Nadu.
Indian Railways will be installing this surveillance system on 700 kilometers of route passing through forest areas.
The total cost of the implementation on the 700-km track will be ₹181 crore.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the technology was implemented on a 150-kilometer section of Assam in 2022. He said it has shown to be quite beneficial.
The Railway Minister said this system can alert loco pilots well in time about the presence of elephants on tracks.
In December 2022, the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) introduced the Intrusion Detection System in 11 elephant corridors.
These 11 corridors have not reported any train-elephant collisions.
The system works by generating an alert to the train controller, station master, train drivers and other stakeholders whenever an elephant steps onto the track.
An average of 20 elephants die due to train collisions every year in India.
