Odisha: ECoR to install Intrusion Detection System to check train-elephant collision

Bhubaneswar: The East Coast Railway (ECoR) has adopted an innovative step to check elephant deaths on rail lines under its jurisdiction, especially in sensitive locations of elephant movements in Khurda Road and Sambalpur Railway Divisions.

The ECoR has decided to install Intrusion Detection System (IDS) in elephant movement areas to prevent the death of wild jumbos due to train hits.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had directed all zonal Railways to work towards inclusive development. Acting upon this direction, the ECoR has adopted the IDS System for saving the life of elephants. The Ministry of Railways has sanctioned Rs 79.12 crore to the ECoR for installing IDS at sensitive locations of elephant passing zones and elephant corridors, sources said.

In the first phase, the project would be implemented at six railway sections consisting of 200 Km stretch under Sambalpur and Khurda Road Railway Divisions of ECoR. These are Maneswar-Bamur, Turekela-Lakhna, Arand-Arang Mahanadi and Norla-Theruvali in Sambalpur Division and Kapilas Road-Rajathgarh-Angul, Rambha-Ganjam and Nayagarh-Porjanpur railway sections under Khurda Road Railway Division, sources added.

Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) had first taken this project on experimental basis in Chalsa-Hasimara Railway Section of the Dooars area under Alipurduar Division and between Lanka-Hawaipur Railway Section under Lumding Division. After success of the pilot project, NFR has installed Intrusion Detection System (IDS) in all its elephant corridors in Assam and North Bengal in order to prevent the death of wild jumbos due to train hits. The pilot project has already been immensely successful in saving the lives of many elephants approaching railway tracks from being hit by trains.

The IDS will help detect wild elephants approaching the railway tracks and alert railway officials to take immediate steps to avert any mishap. The optical fibres will be used as sensors to identify movements of wild animals at locations and alert Control Offices, Station Masters, Gateman and Loco Pilots. It uses a fibre optic-based acoustic system working on the principle of scattering phenomenon to sense the real-time presence of elephants on the track.

The Intrusion Detection System can monitor unusual movements up to a stretch of 60 km. IDS will also help detect rail fracture, trespassing on railway track and unauthorised digging near railway tracks.

The system’s primary application is an Intrusion Detection System (Elephant Detection) based on Distributed Acoustics Sensing (DAS) technique, which should Locate and detect the presence of elephants near the track so that speed of the trains in the sections will be reduced. The system shall be capable of sending alarms to the Loco Pilot unit (Tablet with internet facility) via SMS/internet with GPS tag, providing information about the location of elephants. The system shall detect and locate moving elephants near or on the track areas of ballasted track.

The communication unit will display elephant movement audio visual alarm on local display. It will also send information to central DAS server for notification to relevant Assistant Station Manager/Gate man/Field Users over railway existing communication network OFC/Railnet/Ip-MPLS or LTE network.

The project aims at developing an affordable solution for large-scale monitoring and early warning of elephant intrusion. After analysing the signal processing methods, the most suitable technique for real- time detection of elephants is chosen and simulated.