AI System 'Gajraj' Alerts Train Drivers to Elephants on Tracks

Elephants in India walk along paths they have used for a very long time, but trains now cross some of those paths.

When a train comes fast, the driver may not see the elephants until it is too late to stop.

A fully loaded train needs about 1.6 kilometres to stop even with emergency brakes.

So Indian Railways built a smart system called Gajraj Suraksha.

It uses special cables under the tracks that can feel tiny vibrations, like an elephant's footsteps.

The system learns to tell elephant footsteps apart from other movements.

When it senses elephants nearby, it sends an alert to the train driver and station workers.

The train can then slow down before reaching the elephants.

Between 2019-20 and 2023-24, 81 elephants died in train collisions.

The system is now being added along nearly 700 kilometres of forest routes.

In one area in Tamil Nadu, similar cameras helped elephants cross safely more than 9,000 times without a single death.