Jumbo Deaths On Tracks: Odisha-Born Prof Designs Solution To End Menace

Bhubaneswar: An Odia professor’s innovation may turn out to be a solution to the rising number of elephant deaths due to train collisions in the country.

Prof Subrat Kar of IIT-Delhi has devised a prototype warning system which detects presence of elephants on railway tracks.

His innovation has won the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Telecom Award instituted by the Union Ministry of Communications.

Congratulating Kar and IIT-Delhi for the work, Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said the warning system has zero interference with elephants’ natural movement and will go a long way in saving them from train mishaps.

The prototype was developed at the department of Electrical Engineering and Bharti School of Telecom of IIT-Delhi, in collaboration with Wildlife Institute of India.

Kar, who hails from Cuttack, informed that the warning system comprises four sensors that detect feet vibration, infrared rays coming from the approaching animals, a laser detector and a camera to recognise elephants, The New Indian Express reported.

The system then sends a stop signal to a loco engine sufficiently ahead of time and at distances greater than 2.5 to 3 km of the moving train to bring it to a halt, he added.

The Odisha-born professor said the desire to evolve a technical solution came following a series of elephant deaths in train collisions in Ganjam, Athagarh and Parlakhemundi.

He started working on the project five years ago and completed it in 2018 with a funding of Rs 30 lakh from the Indian Railways.

At present, Kar and his team members are working on demonstration, testing and validation of the warning system.

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