Tamil Nadu Forest Department uses AI to prevent elephant-train collisions

Tamil Nadu has taken a step ahead to ensure the safety of wild elephants by implementing an innovative AI-based surveillance system. This pilot project, initiated in Madhukkarai, west of Coimbatore, aims to prevent tragic elephant deaths caused by collisions with trains on railway tracks.

Additional Chief Secretary of Environment Climate Change & Forests (Government of Tamil Nadu) took to X (formerly Twitter) and called the upgrade a big boon in preventing elephant deaths in such areas and posted a couple of videos of the system at work.

The pilot project has been launched on Southern Railways' Ettimadai (TN)–Walayar (KL) section, which connects Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu to Palakkad in Kerala.

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What does the project involve

• The 7.2 crore project involved the installation of 12 surveillance towers equipped with both thermal and standard cameras, strategically positioned along the railway tracks.
• The installation of all 12 e-surveillance towers includes five towers along the 'A' line and seven along the 'B' line, covering the twin single-line railway tracks, said a The Hindu report from October 2023.

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• To detect elephant movements, tower-mounted thermal imaging cameras have been used along the lines and a control room has been established.
• Apart from the camera, for easy movement of the wild animals, underpasses have been constructed as well.
• Subsequently, the system will be expanded to cover a larger vulnerable area in the next phase.

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According to a South First report from 2022,  27 elephants have died on the 'killer stretch' in the last 27 years.

A total of 11 elephants have lost their lives in train collisions along the Coimbatore-Palakkad railway lines from 2008 to 2022, said a The Hindu report.

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How does it work

• These towers play an important role in the early detection of elephant movements, to help mitigate potential accidents.
• The data collected by these towers are then transmitted in real-time to a control room on-site nearby.
• This control room then processes the data and promptly notifies loco-pilots through calls and SMS.
• The initiative's goal is to achieve "zero elephant deaths" on railway tracks in the area.

The region, also a biodiversity hotspot, has experienced several incidents of elephants succumbing to train collisions.

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