Produced by: Danny Cyril Dcruze
Elephant deaths on Tamil Nadu's railway tracks are rising, with 36 fatalities in the past decade, especially near Madukkarai.
In 2021, Tamil Nadu’s high court ordered the forest and railway departments to address the issue.
12 towers with AI cameras were installed along the critical tracks in Madukkarai to detect elephants, according to a report by BBC
AI cameras, similar to those used by the Indian Army, detect movement and send alerts when elephants approach the tracks.
Alerts are sent to officials if an elephant is detected within 100 feet of the railway track, allowing timely intervention
A control room with a four-person team monitors the system’s live feed continuously in order to provide prompt intervention.
The project, costing over Rs 7 crore, launched in February and detected nearly 400 elephant approaches in a few months.
Tamil Nadu plans to extend the system to five other areas where elephants are prone to approach railway tracks. The locations are in Coimbatore, Dharmapuri, Hosur, and Gudalur. . The AI-based Gajraj system is being suggested for elephant corridors in multiple states.