Early hours of Tuesday morning brought the heart wrenching reports of a tanker train transporting oil from the East, colliding with and killing a pregnant mother elephant and two elephant calves, close to Habarana. The reports, along with the gruesome pictures of the elephant carcasses, led to a public outcry requesting for measures to prevent recurrence of such tragedies.
Following this, General Manager Railways, Dilantha Fernando, told Sunday Observer, that at the discussions held with the Minister of Transportation, Nimal Siripala de Silva, there are plans to install a sensor system which will remove the elephants from the track when a train is approaching. “ An expert has already developed this project and carried out a pilot project in Mannar, which works by broadcasting a wavelength of frequency that will scare the elephants from the railway track,” Fernando says.
He adds that the Minister is looking into allocating funds for the project, and has requested for a proposal to install this system in 83 locations of the country, where the railway tracks interfere with elephant crossing points.
The Inventor of the system, Irosh Perera says that the system uses elephants’ own communication method to warn them of approaching trains, through a system of devices and sensors. “Elephants use infrasonic alpha waves to communicate. I have studied their communications to differentiate their warning signals. These warning wavelengths will be used to scare away elephants on the track, once a train is approaching,” Perera says.
Perera adds that a feasibility study will be conducted to identify the exact locations where the elephants cross the railway track. Speaking of the pilot project in Mannar, he said that it was a 100 percent success.
“However, the maximum probability of preventing an accident through installing this system at these locations is 80 percent,” Perera says, adding that there is a 20 percent chance of an accident taking place at some other location.
Director General, Department of Wildlife Conservation, M.G.C. Sooriyabandara says it is important to find the best location to monitor a pilot project, prior to nationwide installation of the system. “ Although, a pilot project was carried out in Mannar, the project had no communication with the Department,” he says.
However, Sooriyabandara hopes the project will help reach heights in minimising elephant deaths due to train collisions, something the Department has been struggling for two decades to achieve. “The situations gradually improved, hopefully this project will minimise elephant deaths due to train collisions,” he said.
Most of the environmentalists, activists and even the public assumed that the cause of this particular collision was either high speeding by the Engine Driver or another form of negligence. “This appears to be an act of negligence, where the speed limit was not adhered to. This is the dry season where elephants roam for water and this was a place where elephants crossed,” Weerarathna says.
He believes speed limits should be imposed for both trains passing elephant crossings and for oil tankers. He admits that at times, the Engine Driver cannot see the road in the night as the old train lights are not very powerful and the driver has only a small narrow glass window to observe the track through.
“To minimise these incidents, when building railway tracks in the future, it is important to elevate the track or build underpasses at points where animals cross,” he says.
Speaking of the cause of the collision, Fernando says since there were no witnesses, there is only the statement by the Engine Driver and the Guard, which says they observed a herd of approximately 25 elephants on the track. “When the horn blared, they have moved away from the track, but as the train was approaching closer, three have climbed back on the track.”
This is a hilly area, therefore, the possibility of the train having sped has to be eliminated, he says, adding that drivers have to be cautious in the areas where elephants frequently cross, which are marked by boards cautioning possible elephant crossings.