A tragic incident occurred in Assam, India, when a passenger train collided with a herd of wild Asiatic elephants early on Saturday, resulting in the deaths of seven elephants and injuring a calf. The accident took place as the train was traveling at high speed, and despite the driver’s efforts to engage the emergency brakes upon spotting the herd of approximately 100 elephants, the train was unable to stop in time.
According to Kapinjal Kishore Sharma, a spokesperson for Indian Railways, five train coaches and the engine derailed due to the impact. Fortunately, there were no human casualties reported. The incident unfolded in a forested area located about 78 miles southeast of Assam’s capital, Guwahati. Following the collision, veterinarians conducted autopsies on the deceased elephants, which were scheduled to be buried later in the day.
Frequent Train-Elephant Collisions in Assam
While the railway tracks in Assam are known to cross elephant habitats, the location of this particular accident was not classified as an official elephant corridor. Indian Railways has implemented measures for trains traveling through the nation’s 150 designated wildlife corridors, including mandatory speed reductions to minimize the risk of collisions. The Rajdhani Express, which was en route from Sairang in Mizoram to the national capital, New Delhi, had 650 passengers aboard at the time of the incident.
Sharma stated, “We delinked the coaches that were not derailed, and the train resumed its journey to New Delhi. Around 200 passengers who were in the five derailed coaches have been transferred to Guwahati on a different train.”
The phenomenon of speeding trains colliding with wild elephants is not uncommon in Assam, which is home to an estimated 7,000 wild Asiatic elephants, one of the highest concentrations of these animals in India. Since 2020, at least a dozen elephants have been killed in similar accidents across the state. On average, around 20 elephants lose their lives in train accidents each year, as reported by the Indian government. These fatalities often occur when elephants cross railway lines that intrude upon their natural habitats.
Conservation Efforts Underway
In light of these ongoing tragedies, the Indian government has initiated several conservation efforts. A new elephant hospital recently opened in Mathura, aimed at providing care for injured elephants. Additionally, the southern state of Tamil Nadu has implemented an artificial intelligence and machine learning-enabled surveillance system designed to prevent further elephant deaths on railways.
This time of year, wild elephants are known to wander into human settlements, particularly when rice fields are ripe for harvesting. The growing interactions between humans and wildlife underscore the urgent need for effective measures to ensure the safety of both elephants and train passengers in Assam and beyond.
