Orissa elephant deaths: Panel wants speed curbs for trains

The impact in this accident was so huge that the tracks were damaged and the train was detained for more than seven hours.

The committee comprising Orissa chief wildlife warden J D Sharma,director of Project Elephant Arvind Singh and wildlife expert Biswajit Mohanty which conducted field inquiries on January 31 and February 1 this year found that the accident could have been prevented had the forest range officer informed the railway control room in advance about the presence of the herd. During its investigation,the committee found that the range officer of Rambha wildlife range made the first phone call to the control room at about 12.40 am,around two minutes after the train had mowed down the herd. “It was too late by then,” the committee noted in its report.

The committee found that even the Railways was lax about the elephant presence as they never enforced speed restrictions though they had put up the signboards at Subalaya section which indicated that this was an elephant crossing zone.

“Though the train driver was expected to follow the general advisory from the MoEF about long whistle,watch and proceed,this made little sense if the train was being driven at 110 km at night time when everything would be a fast moving blur to the driver,” the report said.

Director of Project Elephant Arvind Singh said to prevent such deaths in future,the committee has now advised speed restrictions through identified vulnerable tracks in Orissa like as is done in Rajaji National Park in Bengal.

The panel recommended frequent co-ordination meetings between rail officials and forest officials to prevent such deaths. It also recommended that forest officials would survey jointly with railway officials the 11-km track and intimate the Railways about the the most vulnerable patch to regulate the speed of trains from 6 pm to 6 am.