Camera fixed trains to detect elephants on tracks

Irangika Range

Sri Lanka Railways has taken measures to rescue wild elephants that stray onto railway tracks and risk being hit by moving trains.

Transport Minister Kumara Welgama yesterday commenced a project to instal video cameras on engines of trains plying across elephant infested areas in the country.

The project commenced at the Fort railway station with Minister Welgama fixing a new video camera on the engine of the Batticaloa bound train, yesterday morning.

The cost incurred to fix one night vision camera on a train engine is around Rs.2.7 million. The project will be sponsored by Diaog and carried out by the Sri Lanka Railways together with the Wildlife Conservation Department.

The Minister said these night vision video cameras will be fixed on engines of trains plying across elephant corridors in areas,such as, Trincomalee, Habarana,Vavuniya, Galoya, Baticaloa and Galgamuwa.

The camera system was fixed on the engine of the Batticaloa bound train yesterday as a pilot project and action would be taken to do same with other trains after a one month review of the pilot project," he added.

The camera has the capacity of capturing the images of elephants and other animals based on their heat sensitivity within a range of one kilometre and the clear image of the animal would be displayed on monitors with a range of 300 metres. Between 10 to 15 wild elephants are knocked down by trains every year, the Minister said. "Engine drivers are vigilant over the roaming elephants to avoid such accidents. Some accidents can be avoided,while others are unavoidable," he said.

The Minister said that Railway Authorities are deeply grieved by incidents of elephant deaths on railway tracks. Therefore, with the implementation of this project, I am confident it will reduced to a great extent and the lives of these gentle giants spared.