Northeast Frontier Railway
Two elephant died and one injured when they dashed against the light engine no. 13188 in between Kampur and Jamunamukh stations in Nagaon District of Assam. The incident occurred at a place which is not marked as a notified elephant corridor by the Forest department of Assam. In fact the spot is about 13 kms away from the area where caution had been advised by the Forest department. It was the driver of the light engine which left Kampur station at 04-51 hrs who informed about the incident of elephant dashing at km 124/6-7 while proceeding towards Jamunamukh station. As a result of the elephant dashing, the light engine got damaged and had to be moved by calling another...
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relief engine. On hearing about the indent, railway authority informed DFO/Nagaon immediately who arrived site at about 07-54 hrs. The track was cleared after receiving permission. The section was cleared at 08-30hrs. On noticing a herd of elephant in nearby area, railway authority imposed a speed restriction of 30kmph in that area.
The issue is being monitored at the highest level by the Forest department and the Railways and coordinating mechanisms have been set in place where the location of the elephant herds is provided by the forest Department to the Railways and Railways in turn runs its trains at a lower speed in those areas. Help has also been sought by the Forest Department from NGOs like the WWF and other organizations to provide details of movements of the elephant herds straying out large distances from the Forest Reserves. In addition to lowering the speed of the trains from sunset to sunrise the Railway staffs have been sensitized to these issues. During the last fortnight on as many as four occasions the Railway staff i.e. Gateman, Station Manager and patrolmen in different sections Kamrup Khetri to Jamunamukh, Patharkhola to Lamshakhan and Hojai to Dhaulphukhuri have detected elephant movements and the speed of the trains has been reduced there by saving precious lives. Help of these NGOs is also being taken to manage these issues effectively.