To prevent elephants from straying on tracks, Indian Railways has a very novel idea

The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has this system in place across four of its divisions at select level crossings where elephant zones exist. (PTI)

The sound of honeybees downloaded from the internet to keep elephants away from railway tracks has created quite a buzz after the novel idea introduced by the Northeast Frontier Railway brought down the number of accidents. The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has this system in place across four of its divisions at select level crossings where elephant zones exist. The idea was implemented in late 2017 and this year only six elephants have died after colliding with a train. In 2013, the number of elephants killed was 19, in 2014 it was 5, in 2015, it was 12, in 2016, it was 9, while in 2017, it was 10.

“We installed this in Rangiya division and once it was successful we have installed it in other locations as well. This was started barely six months back,” said Lokesh Narayan, Additional General Manager, NFR. Unlike in Kenya, where boutique beehives are dangled from fences to keep elephants away, NFR uses an electronic “buzzer” to keep the animals at bay. While elephant-repulsion techniques such as the chili bomb and electric fences have been used earlier, this buzzing sound has been the most effective and cost-efficient.


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