The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has claimed that its alert employees had saved as many as 140 elephants’ lives this year. Subhanan Chanda, Chief Public Relations Officer of the NFR, said this here on Tuesday.
Although there are 67 elephant corridors, notified jointly in consultation with the forest department of the respective state in five NFR divisions, wild elephants often cross railway tracks on other places.
“As drivers are instructed to run the train with controlled speed through the notified elephant corridors, cases of elephant hit have come down. But it’s difficult to control a train when driver suddenly notices elephants on tracks in areas not notified as elephant corridors,” he said.
The 67 elephant corridors under five NFR divisions include one in Katihar, 22 in Alipuruar, 23 in Rangiya, 16 in Lumding and 5 in Tinsukia divisions.
“The incidents of elephants crossing railway track is more common in the Alipurduar division and to some extent in the Lumding and Rangiya divisions. As per data, in the Alipurduar division there were 115 cases when elephants were saved in 2018 by controlling the train as and when the driver noticed movement of the elephant herd near or over railway track,” he said.
The Alipurduar division had recorded 119 cases of saving elephants’ lives by driver stopping the train in 2017.
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