Speeding trains prove to be a jumbo problem for Assam’s elephant population

The deaths of wild elephants caused by accidents with running trains are on the rise in Assam with eight elephants killed by trains since January this year and four of them alone in a little over a month. According to reports, between 1990 and 2018, a total of 115 elephants died in Assam due to train hits. Between 2012 and 2022, at least 30 elephants died in Assam in train mishaps while 55 died in West Bengal in similar incidents.

According to the latest census, India is home to 27,312 elephants and of them, Assam is home to 5,719 Asian elephants, the second largest elephant population in India after Karnataka (6049). A large number of them often come out of the forests in search of food. Assam’s Forest and Environment department officials said that 71 elephants including calves were killed last year mainly due to being hit by speeding trains, poisoning, electrocution, ‘accidental’ deaths including falling into ponds and ditches and lightning strikes.

In May last year, 18 jumbos were killed in a lightning strike in Nagaon district of central Assam. According to the ‘India State of Forest Report-2019’, Assam has only 36.11 per cent forest cover out of its total geographical area of 78,438 sq.km. Out of the total 28,327 sq.km forest area in Assam, only 2,795 sq.km is very dense forest and 10,279 sq. km area is moderately dense forest. Northeast India’s biodiversity conservation organisation “Aaranyak” in a report said that linear infrastructure such as railway tracks often run through pristine wildlife habitats which has consequently led to habitat fragmentation, posed barriers to wildlife movement and caused casualties due to train collisions.