Indian Railways To Install Intrusion Detection System To Prevent Elephant Deaths In East Coast Zone

The Intrusion Detection System (IDS) will detect elephants approaching tracks and will send an alert to the station master, loco pilot, and station manager.

The East Coast of Railway (ECOR) is all set to install Intrusion Detection System (IDS) in elephant movement areas in order to prevent deaths due to train accidents, an official said.

As per the official, the IDS will help detect elephants approaching the railway tracks and an alert will be sent to the loco pilot, station master, also station manager and the accident can be prevented.

"The IDS will help detect elephants approaching the railway tracks and an alert will be sent to the local pilot, station master, also station manager so that everybody throughout the loop has the information that there is an elephant on the track...,” Biswajit Sahu, Chief Public Relations officer, East Coast of Railway said. He further said that this system is a multifaceted system.

“This will help us to understand whether any boulder is falling on the track or not. Suppose there is a landslide nearby or there is any digging activity nearby, illegal digging activity, all these things it will be able to detect...," he added.

An official reported that in the month of March alone, seven deaths of elephants were reported in the state. Most of these deaths are reported due to poaching, electrocution or train and road accidents. In addition, 2776 wild animals had been killed in the past 5 years (2017-18 to 2021-22) in Odisha, including 416 elephants.