The Southern Railway on Thursday informed the Madras High Court that it would not be feasible either to reduce the speed of trains operated between Palakkad (Kerala) and Podanur (Coimbatore) or divert some of the trains through the Palakkad-Pollachi-Coimbatore route to prevent the death of elephants due to train hits.
Appearing before a Division Bench of Justices V. Bharathidasan and N. Sathish Kumar, Southern Railway counsel P.T. Ramkumar said, the trains between Palakkad and Podanur were operated at a speed of 45 kmph between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. and it would not be possible to reduce the speed further due to the gradient.
He said the trains’ speed was calculated based on ‘attacking speed,’ below which the trains would not be able to negotiate in a given gradient and curvature. Running the trains below the least permissible limit might endanger the safety of passengers, especially during the night hours, he cautioned.
The counsel also said it would not be possible to divert some of the trains during night hours. He said there were two lines between Palakkad and Podanur via the Walayar Ghats. The ‘A’ line was 48.26 km long and the ‘B’ line was 52.56 km long. The entire route was completely electrified.
On the other hand, the alternate route from Palakkad to Podanur via Pollachi was 97.68 km long and also a single line. Trains diverted through this alternative route would have to undergo two reversals, one at Pollachi and another at Palakkad, and it would take 143 more minutes of running time.
Stating that the trains now operated through Walayar Ghats take approximately 62 minutes to travel between Podanur and Palakkad, Mr. Ramkumar said the travelling time would increase drastically if the trains were operated in the alternative route besides posing technical constraints in reversing.
The counsel, however, apprised the court of the Southern Railway having established hanging solar fences and solar lights to prevent elephant deaths due to train hits. He said vegetation for about 10 to 15 metres on both sides of the railway tracks had been cleared for ensuring free visibility to the loco pilots.
He also said railway officials were in talks with two private software companies for analysing the possibility of using Image Processing Artificial Intelligence Early Warning System to detect elephant movements through cameras, installed at multiple locations, and send real-time data to a centrally monitored control room.
The counsel complained that the railway officials were unable to spot any elephants trackers or depredation watchers, to be deployed by the forest department, during their inspections. He added that the forest department was yet to begin constructing watch towers at accident-prone locations.
Hence, the judges directed Additional Advocate General J. Ravindran to get instructions in this regard from the forest department by March 25.
