Highlights
- According to the Forest Department, the elephant herd was crossing the railway tracks near Kharikatia railway station on Sunday night when the 22 years old jumbo and her calf were hit.
- In August, Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishaw informed the Lok Sabha that forty-five elephants were killed in train accidents in the period 2019-2021.
Train hits are one of the biggest causes of unnatural elephant deaths in India, and tragically the number of fatalities only keeps on growing.
On Monday, a female elephant was killed after being hit by a speeding Rajdhani Express near Titabar in Assam’s Jorhat district.
Her 10-month-old calf which was also hit by the train on Sunday night had died on the spot.
Injured elephant continues to be in pain
Another elephant injured in the incident is still alive and is under treatment.
According to the Forest Department, the elephant herd was crossing the railway tracks near Kharikatia railway station on Sunday night when the 22 years old jumbo and her calf were hit.
Railways was alerted about elephant movement
Forest Department added that an alert was sent to the local railway authorities about the movement of elephants.
Northeast frontier railway officials said that the train was travelling at over 50 kmph and even though the loco pilot had applied emergency brakes the collision could not be avoided.
Elephant deaths on railway tracks
In December 2021, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) had said that in the ten years between 2010-2020 a total of 1,160 elephants were killed in India due to reasons other than natural causes.
Out of this, electrocution accounted for more than half of the unnatural deaths.
While a total of 741 elephants were killed after coming into touch with live wires, 186 jumbos lost their lives on railway tracks.
45 elephants killed by train in 2019-20
In August, Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishaw informed the Lok Sabha that forty-five elephants were killed in train accidents in the period 2019-2021.
Ten elephants, including two within the East Coast Railway zone, were killed in 2019.
The Northern and Southern railways recorded two deaths each and the Northeast Frontier Railway registered four deaths.
In 2020, 16 elephants died in collision with trains. The East Coast Railway and the Northern Railway zones recorded two deaths each. The Northeast Frontier Railway zone recorded six deaths, while the Southern and South Eastern Railway recorded three deaths each.
In 2021, 19 elephants died. While the Northern Railway and North Eastern Railway zones recorded two deaths each, the East Coast Railway recorded three deaths. The Northeast Frontier Railway recorded five deaths, the Southern Railway (4), the South Eastern Railway (2) and the South Western Railway (2).
Environmentalists have long accused the railways of failing to take steps to reduce such incidents. They have also pointed out that Railways have so far not taken any action against loco pilots involved in such accidents.
