AI Cameras Help Save Elephants From Being Run Over By Train In Rourkela

Rourkela: The artificial intelligence (AI) has come to a good use in protecting the wildlife as it saved two adult elephants and a calf from being run over by train in Rourkela of Odisha’s Sundargarh district.

According to Forest department sources, the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) has installed AI-based cameras along train tracks in Rourkela forest division as part of its wildlife conservation initiatives. Initially, the cameras have been installed in the areas mostly used by the elephants.

One such camera caught the elephants walking on the train tracks and alerted the control room of the Forest department. The Forest officials swung into action and informed the Railway officials who stopped a train coming on the same track.

After the elephants were herded off the track, the train resumed its journey, the sources said.

In a similar incident on December 5, a herd of 28 elephants was detected by the AI cameras moving near a train track. On being alerted, a team of Forest officials herded the elephants off the track and succeeded in preventing a major mishap.