The construction of Southern Railway’s first underpass for wild elephants entered final phase with the launching of composite girders onto the structure built for pachyderm movement on the Ettimadai - Walayar section, which links Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
According to the Palakkad Division of the Southern Railway, the bridge got commissioned and the remaining work will be completed by the end of June. The bridge on the ‘B’ line [of the ‘A’ and ‘B’ twin single line between Ettimadai - Walayar] offers a 60 feet wide and 20 feet high passage underneath the track for the elephants to cross through, said the Division.
The works were carried out by blocking traffic via the ‘B’ line for 12 hours on June 11 — by diverting all the trains via the ‘A’ line and not cancelling passenger trains.
According to the Division, two composite girders for the underpass were launched by replacing the two temporary steel girders at the location ‘km 505A/400-500’ of ‘B’ line which passes through Madukkarai forest range of the Coimbatore Forest Division.
The works for the elephant underpass started on December 21, 2022 after launching two temporary girders on the track. This enabled the construction of substructure and pier of the bridge simultaneously with non-stop train traffic. All construction activities were carried out under the temporary girders, said the Division.
After the completion of the first underpass, the Railways will construct a second one at the location ‘km 506/900 – 506A/00’ on the ‘B’ line. The Railways had sanctioned ₹7.49 crore for the project.
The work for the second underpass will commence post-monsoon and is expected to be commissioned by March 2024, said the Division.
On the Tamil Nadu side, ‘A’ and ‘B’ lines run 1.8 km and 2.8 km through Solakarai forest beat of Madukkarai forest range. The ‘B’ line mostly passes through forest areas between Ettimadai and Walayar. The ‘A’ line cuts through a small stretch of forest, forming a forest patch between both lines.
According to Forest Department officials, the movement of elephants happens towards the dense forest and the peripheries, for which they cross tracks between Ettimadai and Walayar. They often cross both lines to stray into villages to feed on crops. At times, they remain in the forest patch between both lines, said Forest officials.
J. Sathish, former member of Divisional Railway Users’ Consultative Committee, and Director of Kongu Global Forum, said the permanent solution to avoid elephants getting knocked down by moving trains was to suspend traffic on B line permanently and construct an elevated line close to the A line.
As per Forest Department statistics, a total of 11 elephants have been killed in six major accidents since 2008 on the Tamil Nadu side alone.
