At 6:36 am, the control room at Binnaguri Railway Station in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district buzzes with activity. A sudden alarm blares, prompting station superintendent SK Sunil to promptly check the Intrusion Detection System (IDS) panel. The screen indicates elephant movement at the 101st kilometer between Binnaguri and Dalgaon stations. Without hesitation, he alerts the train’s locomotive pilot to reduce speed to 25 km/h.
The alarm signal originates from optical fibers buried 20 meters from the railway track and three feet underground. The fibers are coiled in a specific pattern to detect vibrations caused by elephant movement. “That was close. We must stay vigilant. We can’t afford to lose elephants,” remarks Sunil, referencing a tragic incident in Assam’s Hojai district where eight elephants were killed by a passing train on December 20, 2025. Since 2019, more than 90 elephants have died on railway tracks.
Binnaguri lies within the vulnerable 52-km Madarihat-Nagrakata elephant corridor. This stretch was selected as a pilot site for implementing an AI-enabled Intrusion Detection System to monitor elephant activity. Launched in 2023, the Ministry of Railways has invested ₹208 crores to deploy IDS across 1,158 route kilometers in eight zones: Northeast Frontier Railway, East Coast Railway, Southern Railway, Northern Railway, South Eastern Railway, North Eastern Railway, Western Railway, and East Central Railway. Currently, the system is operational along 141 kilometers under the Northeast Frontier Railway.
“Elephants are intelligent creatures, but their size leads to unique behaviors. Unlike other animals that quickly disperse when a train horn sounds, elephants struggle to return to safety. They tend to run along the tracks for ease of movement,” explains Sunil. “Even if a loco pilot tries to stop the train, a collision could still occur. Monitoring elephant movements far from the tracks is crucial.”
The team maintains heightened alertness between 5 pm and 9 pm-a known danger zone, as around 20 trains traverse the station daily. Senior section engineer Irfan Azam, involved from the project’s inception, notes that the same fiber-based technology is also utilized by security forces to prevent infiltration at border areas.
Azam elaborates on the IDS: “This fiber-based system applies the principles of Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS). Laser pulses from remote units of Optical Fiber DAS continuously send signals, capturing vibrations and analyzing them. When elephants move near these cables, their unique pressure and weight signatures trigger alarms.”
IDS consists of three essential components: the Central DAS server at the railway division’s office processes data, the Remote DAS unit examines the optical fibers, and the LC gate alarm unit alerts staff and pilots with location information. For every kilometer of elephant corridor, 2.5 kilometers of fibers are laid to ensure effectiveness. In the Alipurdwar to Siliguri section, a 47-km stretch is already equipped with IDS, having recorded no accidents over four years.
At the Red Bank level crossing on the Banarhat-Carron section, gateman Ganesh Gaur manages the barriers around the track. He mentions that most accidents involve baby elephants, recalling an incident a decade ago where six elephants perished while he was on duty. Though he has a hooter to signal elephant movement, it frequently activates for passing trains, causing traffic delays as commuters urge him to open the gate.
While the system is generally effective, false alarms can occur as it operates like a weight sensor. “It can mistake vibrations from various sources-cattle, fallen trees, or construction machinery-for elephant movement,” another railway official explains.
Azam points out that such occurrences may arise when elephants wander from their corridors in search of food, particularly during the lush growth of young paddy crops. “We are collaborating with the forest department to install optical fibers within forest areas and developing this technology to detect rail fractures as well,” he adds.
According to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, a comprehensive report has been produced detailing measures to mitigate wildlife train collisions across 127 railway stretches totaling 3,452.4 kilometers. The ministry’s response in Lok Sabha in July 2025 indicated that 81 elephant casualties from train collisions were reported in various states between 2019-20 and 2023-24, with 77 stretches prioritized for mitigation and specific interventions based on wildlife movement patterns.
Original Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/india/intrusion-detection-system-where-elephants-trains-cross-path-an-ai-enabled-system-prevents-accidents-10506158/
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Publish Date: 2026-02-01 04:20:00
