It has taken 17 elephant deaths in last 10 months, including five that were mowed down just two days back, on the killer tracks between Siliguri and Alipurduar in Jalpaiguri, for the West Bengal forest department to wake from its slumber and push for scientific methods to keep the jumbos away from railway lines when the trains pass through the area.

The forest department would install devices, which generate infrasonic waves, to keep elephant herds away from rail tracks. Animals, especially elephants, have been known to perceive and communicate using infrasonic sound waves, often emitted by stomping the ground. These sound waves can act as anything from mating call to warning and is sensed by the elephants using their feet.

"Infrasonic waves can be used to keep tuskers away when a train passes through the elephant corridor. It will take time to be introduced but can save the elephants. We will also build underpass for the trains. The immediate solution, however, is to reduce the speed limit and stop movement of trains at night through the corridor," said N C Bahuguna, chief wildlife warden.

The department would also create a monitoring system, which will be connected to the railway signalling system, and will generate alerts whenever a herd is crossing the rail track.

Two days after five adult elephants were mowed down by a passenger train in Jalpaiguri, a team of officials from union ministry of environment and forest, led by Chaitanya Murti, assistant inspector general of forest (AIGF), inspected the area today.

Even though the 150-km track between Siliguri and Alipurduar has been identified as the 'elephant corridor', the trains continue to ply here at speeds of more than 70 km per hour, even though forest department has stipulated 25kmph as maximum speed. According to sources, at least 15 pairs of trains pass through the corridor.

The state forest department will be placing three demands with the central team. "We will appeal to stop the movement of night trains on the corridor, reduce the speed limit to 25 kmph and reduce the number of trains passing through the area. We have already requested the Railways to go for another line in the Falakata to reduce pressure of rail traffic in the Chalsa area," added Bahuguna.

Meanwhile, the state government lodged two complaints Thursday against the railways following which the driver of the Kavi Guru Express, that ploughed through the herd, was detained and interrogated by the forest department before being handed over to the railways' authorities. "The Railways initiated a departmental inquiry against the driver. But punishing a driver would not resolve the issue. The speed limit of trains has to be restricted," said Bipin Sood, conservator, northern circle.

The forest department has also set up camps near the Jaldhaka bridge in the forest area in Chalsa where the accident took place, to treat the injured elephants. "We could not shift the injured elephants. So we have set up camps in the forest. Four doctors are treating the injured elephants," said a senior forest official.

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