Indian Railways To Construct Underpass For Safe Passage Of Elephants, Says Minister In Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: In order to prevent death of elephants in train mishaps, the Indian Railways is planning to construct underpass bridges in the areas witnessing regular movement of the wild animals.

This was revealed by Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw while speaking at the 76th Railways Award Function 2022, organised in Bhubaneswar on Saturday. He said the Railways was taking the death of wild animals, particularly elephants, in train accidents across the country and had drawn up a plan to prevent it.

As per the plan, underpasses will be constructed below the train tracks in the places across the country where there was frequent movement of the elephants. The structures would be wide enough to allow 8 elephants to go through its at a time, he added.

Vaishnaw further said the Railway Ministry has already completed discussion with Union Forest and Environment Ministry in this regard and MoU will be signed to execute the work soon.

At the award function, as many as 155 Railway employees including 5 from East Coast Railway (ECoR) were awarded. Similarly, zonal railways, production centres and PSUs were also presented 21 shields for their achievements.

It may be noted that in a recent incident, three elephants died after being hit by a goods train while crossing the tracks near Bansapani under Joda forest section of Champua range in Odisha’s Keonjhar district. The elephants, a female and two calves of a herd of 22 were crossing the rail tracks when they were hit by a goods train.