Nikhil M. Ghanekar
12 Oct 2016

As the development vs environment debate continues to gather pace, there is evidence that train traffic poses grave danger to sensitive wildlife habitats in central and eastern India

More than 1,200 passenger and freight trains crisscross through some of the country’s most sensitive wildlife habitat, particularly protected areas and corridors in central and eastern India that are home to critically endangered tigers and elephants amongst other animals, reveal government figures. Highlighting the scale of threat to wildlife and their habitat from the vast Indian Railways network, amongst the largest in the world, information accessed through a Right to Information (RTI) query shows that these trains run multiple times a week, some of them every day.

The Mascot quite ironically is Bholu, the guard elephant

While passenger trains run daily or more than four times a week, the schedule for weekly trains varies from week to week, the data shows. The Indian Railways – whose mascot quite ironically is Bholu, the guard elephant -- is divided into 16 major railway zones. With the exception of a few, several routes cut through wildlife areas without speed restrictions, information from the ministry of environment shows. The heavy traffic takes its toll. According to the environment ministry’s landmark Project Gajah, trains passing through wildlife habitats and corridors killed 150 elephants between 1987 and 2010. Given that many serious accidents have occurred after that, the fatalities may have well crossed 200, environmentalists estimate.



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