The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Trains to ply at 40 kmph at night to save lions from collision deaths
AFTER BEING pulled up by the Gujarat High Court last month for failing to ensure that no lions died in accidents at the Gir forest and sanctuary, the Railways and Gujarat forest department told the HC on Tuesday that they have framed a revised standard operating protocol (SOP), limiting train speed to less than 40 km per hour (kmph) on the busy Pipavav-surendranagar rail line during night to avoid collision with lions in Amreli district.
A joint meeting of forest and railway officials was held on April 3 after the HC took note of three lion deaths in January, two of them dying from train accidents.
Counsel for the Railways, advocate Ramnandan Singh, informed the bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Aniruddha Mayee that the forest department and the Railways have framed a revised SOP, as per which the speed of locomotives will be below 40 kmph from sunsettosunriseinsectionsidentified as hotspots of lion movement.
The new SOP will be applicable to an around 90-km long stretch of railway lines crossing
Gir (east) wildlife divison, Shetrunji wildlife division and Amreli social forestry division in Amreli district. The new restrictions will reduce speed of trains on Pipavav-surendranagar railway line of Pipavav Railway Corporation Limited (PRCL) and Mahuva-rajula line of Bhavnagar division of Western Railway from 90 kmph to less than 40 kmph.
The Pipava-surendranagar railway track of PRCL is lifeline of Pipavav port on Rajula coast of Amreli and witnesses a few dozen trains, most of them goods trains, plying on it every day.
“We defined areas that record a frequency of lion movements as lion hotspots and the Railways agreed to restrict the speed of trains to below 40 kmph during night to avoid collions with lions... There will be a caution order (CO) in place in these hotspots throughout the year,” a forest officer said.
“As these hotspots are intersprersed along the entire stretch of 90 km of railway line in Amreli, the trains are unlikely to be able to gain the speed of 100 kmph in non-hotspot areas as well. The speed restriction, we are estimating, will eliminate chances of train-lion collision by 60 to 70 per cent,” the officer added.
Till now, the Railways used to issue COS to restrict the speed of trains to 45 kmph in specific stretches after receiving requests from the forest department following movement of lions.
Incidentally, train speed is restricted to 20 kmph on Visavadar-talala section in Gir (west) wildlife division in Junagadh and Gir Somnath districts and no train operations are allowed during night.
Seven lions had died on being hit by trains between July 2023 and January 2024 on the Pipavav-surendranagar section, which was significantly high given that nine had died on the railway tracks between April 2013 and March 2023.
CJ Agarwal expressed dissatisfaction at the need for court directions and interventions for the authorities to put their house in order.
Addressing Additional Advocate General Manisha Lavkumar Shah, representing the forest department, CJ Agarwal said, “Why do you need every time some inputs from court or interference to put your own house in order?”