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GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 71
TO BE ANSWERED ON 29.01.2026
AI surveillance system to monitor elephant movement
71. SHRI SANJAY KUMAR JHA:
Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT,FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:
(a) whether more than 200 elephants have been killed in train collisions during the last decade;
(b) whether one State has installed an AI-enabled surveillance system to monitor elephant
movement near railway tracks to help prevent accidents;
(c) if so, the success rate of these AI—based surveillance systems; and
(d) whether such surveillance systems would be fitted in all the 150 elephant corridors along the
130,000 km of railway track in the country?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE
CHANGE
(SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH)
(a) to (d) As per information received from State Governments/Union Territory Administrations, a
total of 164 elephant casualties due to train collisions were reported between 2015-16 and 2024-25.
As per information received from the State of Tamil Nadu, elephant–train collisions in the Madukkarai
Range, where two railway tracks pass through Solakarai Beat and Bolampatti Block–I Reserved
Forests, have been a major concern, resulting in 11 elephant deaths since 2008. To address this issue,
the Government of Tamil Nadu had sanctioned ₹724.00 lakh for installing an Artificial Intelligence–
based surveillance system, and work commenced on 23.03.2023 over a vulnerable 7 km stretch of Line
A and Line B connecting Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Following the installation of the AI-based
surveillance system in the Madukkarai range of the Coimbatore Division from December 2023 to
January 2026, total of 6595 alerts have been generated detecting 8589 elephants averting possible
collusions, and there have been zero recorded elephant deaths due to train collisions during this period.
Further, the State of Odisha has also initiated AI-enabled camera surveillance system at Rourkela
Forest Division to prevent elephant accidents on railway track. In addition, as per the information
received from state of Assam, the Indian Railways have installed Intrusion Detection System (IDS)
using Distributed Acoustic System (DAS) at various places of Assam.
Presently there is no such proposal for the installation of such AI-based surveillance systems across
all 150 elephant corridors along the 130,000 km railway network in the country.
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