NFR successfully saved the lives of over 160 elephants crossing railway tracks in 2025

The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has been consistently undertaking proactive and technology driven initiatives to prevent elephant dashing incidents and ensure safe, uninterrupted train operations across its network. These sustained efforts have yielded encouraging results with over 160 elephant lives successfully protected during 2025 alone, reaffirming NFR’s strong commitment to wildlife conservation. A major step in this direction is the deployment of the Intrusion Detection System (IDS) an advanced Artificial Intelligence based technology utilizing Distributed Acoustic System (DAS) principles. The system detects elephant movement near railway tracks and instantly provides real-time alerts to loco pilots and control rooms, enabling timely preventive action and enhancing operational safety.

Kapinjal Kishore Sharma, Chief Public Relations Officer of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) through a press statement said the IDS has already been successfully commissioned across key sections of NFR that pass-through elephant corridors. At present, the system is operational in four important sections: 24 km Kamakhya–Azara–Mirza section under Rangiya Division, 52 km Madarihat–Nagrakata section under Alipurduar Division, 32 km Habaipur–Lamsakhang–Patharkhola–Lumding section under Lumding Division and 23 km Titabar–Mariani–Nakachari section under Tinsukia Division. Together, these installations cover 62.7 km of elephant corridors and 131 km of block sections, significantly improving safety in sensitive wildlife zones. Building on this success, IDS installation works are currently underway across multiple divisions, including 92 km in Alipurduar, 25 km in Katihar, 174 km in Rangiya, 110 km in Lumding and 12 km in Tinsukia Division. Upon completion, the system will cover all elephant corridors under NFR, totalling 146.4 km with an overall block section length of 413.42 km, creating a robust and comprehensive safety network.

In addition, NFR has adopted innovative preventive measures to reduce train elephant interactions. The ‘Plan Bee’ system, installed at vulnerable level crossing gates, uses amplified honeybee sounds audible up to 400 metres to deter elephants from approaching tracks. In coordination with the Forest Department, NFR has also enhanced safety through real-time information sharing, night time speed restrictions in elephant corridors, temporary speed curbs based on sightings, sensitization of train crews, installation of cautionary signage and vegetation clearance to improve visibility.

At the national level, Indian Railways has strengthened wildlife protection by deploying an AI enabled Intrusion Detection System (IDS) using Distributed Acoustic System (DAS) technology to detect elephants and other wildlife near railway tracks. Successfully piloted on Northeast Frontier Railway, the system is now being expanded to other parts of the country. This expansion will cover an additional 981 route kilometres, taking the total coverage to 1,122 route kilometres across Indian Railways, reinforcing its commitment to wildlife conservation and safe train operations. It is noteworthy that more than 2,000 elephants have been safely protected while crossing railway tracks across NFR since 2017.