Watch towers erected to curb train-elephant collisions

EOI, Jalpaiguri, 15 October 2014: The state forest department has constructed two watch towers on the Siliguri-Alipurduar railway stretch known as the ‘elephant corridor’ in a bid to prevent elephant deaths after almost a year since an announcement was made by State forest minister Hiten Barman said on Wednesday. He said another four to five watch towers will be constructed at strategic points along the 165km-long railway track to monitor the movement of elephants and regulate the speed of trains.

Two towers, one at Moraghat and the other near Jaldhaka river rail bridge, have been erected to keep watch on elephant herd movements in Moraghat, Binnaguri, Banarhat, Nagrakata, Jaldhaka bridge and the abandoned Chapramari station.

Recently, the Kabiguru Express mowed down five elephants and injured several others including a pregnant one near the Nagrakata-Jaldhaka rail bridge in Jalpaiguri district.

The incident had led to a war of words between the forest and the railway departments. While the forest department claimed the train was running at a speed higher than the prescribed limit and lodged a complaint against the driver, the railway claimed the area did not fall within the elephant corridor.

Since 2004, when the tracks on the Siliguri-Alipurduar route were converted to broad gauge, speeding trains have killed nearly 50 elephants. Following this surge in elephant deaths, the speed of trains was restricted to 40km per hour in 2010.

Forest rangers will remain on guard from 3pm to 8am and keep watch on herd movement as well as alert and ask trains to stop if they spot elephant herds moving across the rail tracks.

However, some NGOs and environmentalists have expressed doubt in terms of the utility of the watch towers as their height is only 30m while the average height of trees in the area is 60-70m. This discrepancy will surely block visibility while forest guards lack proper equipment such as night vision glasses and search lights, they said.