As per information received from State Governments/Union Territory Administrations, a total of 81 elephant casualties due to train collisions were reported by various states between 2019-20 and 2023-24.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, in coordination with the Ministry of Railways, has taken several measures to prevent elephant deaths on railway tracks including conducting inter-ministerial meetings. Speed restrictions in elephant habitats, pilot projects like seismic sensor-based elephant detection, construction of underpasses, ramps, fencing, have been undertaken at various locations.

Further, the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun in consultation with the Ministry of Environment Forest, and Climate Change and other stakeholders has published a document namely ‘Eco-friendly Measures to Mitigate Impacts of Linear Infrastructure’ to assist project agencies in designing linear infrastructure, including railways lines, in a manner that reduces human-animal conflicts.

Capacity building workshops for Railway officials were conducted in 2023 and 2024 at the Wildlife Institute of India to sensitize them on various aspects of elephant conservation and protection.

A comprehensive report titled “Suggested Measures to Mitigate Elephant & Other Wildlife Train Collisions on Vulnerable Railway Stretches in India” has been prepared after field surveys across 127 identified railway stretches spanning a total of 3,452.4 km. Based on the intensity of wildlife movement, 77 railway stretches covering 1,965.2 km across 14 States have been prioritized for mitigation along with site-specific interventions. The report containing the details of the identified stretches and the mitigation measures has been also shared with the State Governments and the Ministry of Railways.

This information was given by Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Shri Kirti Vardhan Singh in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.

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VM/GS