Northeast Frontier Railway Bags PMI South Asia Award For System That Saves Elephants From Train Hits

The Northeast Frontier Railway won the 2023 Project Management Institute (PMI) South Asia award for its Intrusion Detection System that involves an elephant detection mechanism to prevent deaths.

Representative Image | The Northeast Frontier Railway's Intrusion Detection System is an artificial intelligence-based elephant detection mechanism that prevents the collision of elephants with a train.

Source : PTI

Guwahati: The Northeast Frontier Railway (NF Railway) has bagged the prestigious 2023 Project Management Institute (PMI) South Asia award for ‘Project of the Year’ in the ‘Micro Project’ category, with its entry ‘Intrusion Detection System’ for saving elephant lives,’ an NF Railway press release stated.  It is the first time ever that any zonal railway under the Indian Ministry of Railways has bagged the award ever since the PMI South Asia award was introduced in 2009, the press release stated.

The NF Railway won the award by defeating Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL). In 2022, the award in this category was bagged by the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), the NF Railway release mentioned.

The award was given away at the ceremony held in Chennai on Saturday. (Photo: NF Railway)

Several organisations, including Bosch, IBM, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), Tata, State Bank of India (SBI), Reliance, Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), Engineers India Limited (EIL) besides others participated in the 2023 PMI South Asia awards, it added.

The PMI South Asia took entries from organisations for projects which were completed by March 31, 2023, for the 2023 annual awards. The NF Railway had to pass four grueling stages to qualify for the award. The award was given away in a ceremony held in Chennai on Saturday.

Speaking to ABP Live, NF Railway Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO), Sabyasachi De said, “We are feeling proud to have received the prestigious award as it has proved the technological life-saving capabilities of the system. We have installed the system in two divisions under the jurisdiction of the NF Railway, Lumding in Assam and West Bengal’s Alipurduar. A total of 11 elephant corridors fall under these two divisions. In the coming days, we will cover another 80 elephant corridors under our jurisdiction.”

“The Intrusion Detection System is an artificial intelligence-based elephant detection mechanism. It is a computerised system that prevents collision of elephants with a train. When an elephant approaches a railway track, the system automatically sends an alert to the loco pilot and he is able to stop the train, thus avoiding a collision with the elephant. The system was introduced in 2022 and it has resulted in preventing the death of elephants due to train collisions,” De added.

The system can detect the movement of elephants in advance of 30-40 metres of the track and an alarm is generated in real-time for the detection of elephants near the tracks. An audio-visual alarm is provided to the loco pilots for instant alert. The system helps in increasing the mobility of the trains enhancing the speeds on elephant corridors. It also identifies digging near the railway tracks along the monitored route.

CPRO De said that at least 41 elephants have died under the jurisdiction of the NF Railway due to train hits between 2017 and 2023. In 2017, a total of 10 elephants were killed in train hits followed by 11 in 2018, three in 2019, four each in 2020 and 2021, eight in 2022, and one so far this year.  

According to NF Railway data, as many as 30 elephants died in train hits in Assam while 55 elephants were killed in West Bengal in similar incidents between 2012 and 2022.

Meanwhile, Padma Shri awardee Kushal Konwar Sarma, professor and head of the Department of Surgery and Radiology at the college of veterinary science, Guwahati, famous as the elephant doctor, told ABP Live, “We are happy that the railways have installed such a system to save elephant lives but such incidents are still taking place. Several elephants have died in the last few years due to train hits. The railways should work in coordination with the forest department to identify the elephant corridors and immediately take up similar measures to prevent such occurrences.”

The writer is a senior independent journalist covering the Northeast.

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