Forest department officials of Jorhat division will urge the railway authorities to further reduce the speed of the trains passing through Gibbon wildlife sanctuary, especially the Mariani range, during the dusk-to-dawn period in a bid to prevent animal hits.At present the trains, including Rajdhani Express, while passing through a 1.6-km stretch inside the sanctuary reduce speed to 50km per hour from 100km per hour to avoid collision with animals. However, with yesterday's incident of a male elephant coming under a goods train and getting killed (the second such occurrence inside the sanctuary this year), the forest officials feel the speed of trains should be brought down to 30kmph-40kmph.Divisional forest officer (Jorhat) N.K. Malakar told The Telegraph that the department will urge the railways to reduce the speed of the trains passing through the sanctuary to 40 or 30kmph."We will take up the matter with the railway authorities to at least reduce the speed during the sunset-to-sunrise period as elephants more often come out of the forest during the night," Malakar said.The divisional forest officer said if the trains moved at a slow pace then they could be halted if a herd was crossing or the animals could get time to cross the tracks once the horn is sounded. Malakar said he would write to the forest department authorities to take up the issue with Northeast Frontier Railway authorities in Guwahati.He said the department, as part of the master plan prepared to grant eco-sensitive zone status to Gibbon, includes a proposal to introduce time cards for trains passing through the sanctuary to regulate the speed of locomotives.Gibbon will probably be the first sanctuary in the state to introduce time cards to locomotive drivers, once the plan is approved. The proposals say of issuing time cards at Mariani junction and Nakachari station to enforce the speed restriction.Malakar said under Jorhat forest division, the speed restriction of 50km is also followed between Cinnamara and Jorhat stations (about 8km) and also between Duklongia and Mariani stations (about 6km) as the area falls under an elephant corridor.The divisional railway manager based in Tinsukia, B.N. Mahapatra, said that if a request from the forest department to further reduce the speed of trains while passing through the restricted stretches comes to the railways, then it will be examined.
Mahapatra pointed out that in certain stretches of tracks in Upper Assam, which are part of an elephant corridor, the trains follow the speed restriction of 50km per hour. He said there were other factors involved like railway timetable, which may be affected if the speed was lowered. The stretch from Digboi to Tingrai stations in Tinsukia district is among the four restricted areas.Forest department sources said this year five elephants have been killed on railway tracks across the state, with the most fatal being in Karbi Anglong in August, in which two calves were knocked down by a train.
Mahapatra pointed out that in certain stretches of tracks in Upper Assam, which are part of an elephant corridor, the trains follow the speed restriction of 50km per hour. He said there were other factors involved like railway timetable, which may be affected if the speed was lowered. The stretch from Digboi to Tingrai stations in Tinsukia district is among the four restricted areas.Forest department sources said this year five elephants have been killed on railway tracks across the state, with the most fatal being in Karbi Anglong in August, in which two calves were knocked down by a train.
