Indian Railways deploys AI to save elephants from train collisions

• Indian Railways, with the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, launched an AI-enabled Intrusion Detection System (IDS) to prevent elephant deaths on tracks.
• The IDS uses Distributed Acoustic Sensors (DAS) and Optical Fibre to detect elephants and alert loco pilots, station masters, and control rooms in real time.
• Currently, the system is operational over 141 Rkms in critical locations of Northeast Frontier Railway, with further expansion sanctioned across various zones including NFR, ECOR, SR, NR, SER, NER, WR, and ECR.
• Other preventive measures include speed restrictions, underpasses, ramps, fencing, signage boards, clearing vegetation, LED lights, elephant trackers, and Honey Bee buzzer devices.
• Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw provided this information in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha, noting an average of 16 incidents reported in the past five years.