To be build for tuskers to cross railway tracks between Coimbatore in TN, Palakkat in Kerala
Wild elephants living on the area bordering Tamil Nadu and Kerala will soon be elevated to a class of their own! Exclusive subways for the pachyderms to cross the railway tracks between Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu and Palakkat in Kerala are on the anvil.
This stretch of the railway tracks have earned the dubious name of ‘graveyard of elephants’ because of the speeding trains running over the animals. According to a spokesman of Southern Railway, eight elephants have been killed during the last two years alone when they were hit by the trains.
Ramesh, popularly known as ‘Elephant Ramesh’ because of his affection for the tuskers, however put the death toll in the last two years to 18. “I don’t know how they reached the figure of eight. Many accidents go unreported and there is severe shortage of forest staff on both sides of the border,” said Ramesh, who works as an unofficial ranger of the forest in this stretch.
The Coimbatore-Palakkat stretch passes along the periphery of the Western Ghats and it is common for wild animals, especially the elephants, to cross the tracks in search of drinking water and food. “In addition to this, passengers throw remains of food on to the railway tracks and this draws the attention of the animals,” said the railway spokesman.
Since both sides of the tracks have thick wild growth, the animals remain ignorant of the approaching trains. “The loco pilots sound the alarm or blare the sirens, but most of the time the elephants miss out these warning signals,” said the railway spokesman.
Despite many measures adopted by the Railway, the death toll continued to be on the wrong side and this led the Railway officials to chalk out an out-of-the-box idea. Yet another innovation to prevent the elephants from “trespassing” into the tracks is solar fence and solar lights.