Group searches ways to end elephant carnage on rail tracks
Members of a committee appointed to prevent elephants being killed by speeding trains are now on the field trying to identify places from were elephant herds cross the rail tracks, the general manager of the Railways Department, Dilantha Fernando, told the Sunday Times.
The committee is made up of members of the Department of Wildlife and Railways as well as an engineer.
The most recent tragedy was last Saturday night when three elephants were dismembered by a night mail train running from Batticaloa to Colombo. The deaths took place at nearby Welikanda railway station. Last month, at Palugaswewa area, an oil tanker train killed four elephants including a calf. One elephant was pregnant.
Mr Fernando said panel members are on the ground at the northern and eastern railroad tracks to identify elephant passes that overlap rail tracks.
“On Thursday, they covered the railway line between Giritale to Batticaloa and continued to travel to Trincomalee on Fr i d ay, ’ ’ he said. Inspections will continue on the Jaffna rail line up to Maha Wewa area.
Mr Fernando said an early warning system developed by engineer Iresh Perera who is on the committee, will be considered.
“That will announce to the train operator at a distance of a kilometre that an elephant is approaching the tracks while deterring the animal using low-frequency sound,” he said.
A unit could cost Rs 1 million, he said.
Mr Fernando said a proposal will be submitted to the ADB calling for a grant to fund the project.
The Railway is also fixing speedometers and a mech a n i z ed drive r response system to automatically slow down, or stop trains if the train operator fails to respond in time.
He said that the new system would log critical details of accidents, footage, and braking speed in a black box fitted in the locomotive cabin.
Engineer Iresh Perea, who has built a system that repels elephants by activating infrasound ( low- frequency sound), said it will be installed at a few locations.
But this is just one solution, he said. They also identified areas that require overhead passes.