Lok Sabha Question No. 87 (STARRED), answered on 2023-02-08
Subject: Accidents on Railway Tracks
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Pradyut Bordoloi, Feroze Varun Gandhi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 87

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 08.02.2023

## ACCIDENTS ON RAILWAY TRACKS

- *87. SHRI PRADYUT BORDOLOI: SHRI FEROZE VARUN GANDHI:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of death of humans/ elephants/ animals that occurred on railway  tracks  and  were  reported  from  2014  till  date,  State/  zone/ year-wise;
- (b) whether  the  Government  has  taken  cognizance  of  high  number  of elephant  deaths  on  railway  tracks  in  the  country,  particularly  in Assam during recent years;
- (c) if so, whether any general advisories have been issued to curb such accidental deaths;
- (d) whether inspections have been carried out to verify implementation of these advisories, if so, the details thereof along with the penalties imposed for non-compliance;
- (e) whether under-passes/ ramps track diversion/ enforcement of speed limits  have  been undertaken to prevent such death of humans and animals; and
- (f) if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  other  measures  taken  in  this regard?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COMMUNICATIONS AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a) to (f): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House. *****

STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (f)  OF  STARRED QUESTION NO. 87 BY SHRI PRADYUT BORDOLOI AND SHRI FEROZE VARUN GANDHI  TO  BE  ANSWERED  IN  LOK  SABHA  ON  08.02.2023  REGARDING ACCIDENTS ON RAILWAY TRACKS

(a):  The  State-wise  number  of  deaths  of  human  reported  on  railways  as provided in Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India (ADSI) data published by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) for the last 8 years i.e. 2014 to 2021 are appended as Appendix-I.  Figures for the year 2022 and the current year have not been published by NCRB.

The  Zone-wise  details  of  death  of  elephants  on  railway  tracks  during  the last 9 years i.e. 2014 to 2022 are appended as Appendix-II.

The  desired  information  regarding  number  of  animal  deaths  occurred  on railway tracks from 2014 to till date is quite wide in terms of its coverage and such a data is not maintained.

(b) to (f): Yes, Sir.  A General Advisory was issued jointly by the Ministry of Railways  and  Ministry  of  Environment  and  Forests  on  30 th   March,  2010  to prevent train accidents involving Elephants. This advisory prescribes detailed  guidelines  for  Railways  and  Forest  officials  and  measures  to mitigate deaths of animals in train accidents.

Further,  Northeast  Frontier  Railway  (N.F.Railway)  has  taken  the  following steps to mitigate the death of animals including elephants on Railway track by  train  hits,  including  the  preventive  measures  mentioned  in  General Advisories to prevent train accidents involving Elephant (Jointly issued by Ministry  of  Railways  &  Ministry  of  Environment,  Forests  and  Climate Change), which can be broadly classified in 4 categories: -

## 1. Operational Measures:

- (i) Imposition  of  permanent  speed  restrictions  at  86  numbers  of elephant corridors in N.F.Railway.
- (ii) On  receipt  of  information  regarding  movement  of  elephants, caution orders are issued to Loco Pilots to pass cautiously and be prepared  to  stop  due  to  elephant  movement  and  in  addition thereto  temporary  speed  restrictions  are  imposed  which  varies from  time  to  time  as  per  advice  given  by  Forest  department  of respective states.
- (iii) Deepor Beel is one of the major locations having large population of  endangered  Asiatic  elephant.      Adequate  Permanent  Speed Restrictions have been imposed in the section of Azra -Kamakhya, which passes through Deepor Beel.

## 2. Engineering Measures:

- (i) Clearing  of  vegetation  along  railway  tracks  in  all  the  identified elephant corridors within Railway area.
- (ii) Provision of Signage boards at all the identified elephant corridors to pre-warn the loco pilots.
- (iii) Based on a joint survey by Railways and the Forest Department of Government  of  West  Bengal,  three  out  of  four  identified  works were  sanctioned  by  Ministry  of  Environment  and  Forests  to  be executed  by  Railway  on  deposit  term.  The  works  executed  by Railway are as under:
- a) Construction  of  Passes  -  Passes  with  20  meter  width  have been  constructed  at  Km  No.  66/2-3  (LH),  67/3-4  (LH),  67/8-9 (Both  side),  68/0-1  (Both  side)  &  68/3-4  (Both  side)  between Chalsa and Nagrakata stations.

## 3.

- b) Construction of Ramps - Two number of earthen Ramps of 20 meter  width  at  Km  No.  128/8-9  &  130/0-2  and  another  one number  of  Ramp  at  Km  No.  129/8-9  have  been  constructed
2. between Madarihat and Hasimara stations.
- c) Construction  of  Girder  Bridge  and  Fencing  -  A  girder  bridge has  been  constructed  at  Km  No.  24/6-7  and  rail  fencing erected  at  Km.  No.  25/9-26/0  &  26/2-3  between  Gulma  and Sevok stations.

## Technological initiatives:

- (i) 75 number of Honey Bees sound systems have been propagated at manned level crossings, which act as a repellent to move away elephants from track.
- (ii) Provision of electric wire fencing at elephant corridor in DudhnoiKrishnai section, trench of 1.5 meter deep and 1 meter wide on either  side  of  the  track  in  Mariani-Nakachari  section  for  250 meters  and  erection  of  rail  fencing  between  Gulma  and  Sevok
- stations have been made.
- (iii) Innovative  Intrusion  Detection  System  to  detect  movement  of elephant across Railway track has been introduced in Lumding Hawaipur section (24 Km) of Lumding Division in Assam commissioned in August' 22 and in Chalsa - Hasimara section (60 Km)  of  Alipurduar  Division  in  West  Bengal  commissioned  in December' 22.

## 4. Other measures:

- (i) Sensitization of all loco pilots, guards, station masters and forest officials over N.F.Railway through awareness programme,

workshops etc.

- Passengers and Pantry car staff are motivated/counseled through posters, Passenger Address system etc. not to throw any waste food etc. on the railway track which may attract wild animals on
- (ii) railway track.
- (iii) Further a permanent Co-ordination Committee has been constituted between Ministry of Railways and Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change for preventing elephant death in train accidents.

Implementation  of  items  of  general  advisory  is  checked  during  regular inspections  by  supervisors  &  officers  and  necessary  remedial  action  is taken for any shortfall.

'Police' and 'Public Order' are State subjects under the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India and, as such, State Governments are responsible for prevention, detection, registration and  investigation of  crime  and maintaining law and order etc. on Railways through their law enforcement agencies  viz.  Government  Railway  Police  (GRP)/District  Police.  However, Railway  Protection  Force  (RPF)  supplements  the  efforts  of  GRP/District Police  to  provide  better  protection  and  security  of  passenger  area  and passengers and for matters connected therewith. The State Police registers cases  under  Section  174  of  Cr.PC  in  cases  of  unnatural  deaths  including unnatural  deaths  on  railways,  conducts  investigation  and  takes  further action as per law.

The  following  corrective  measures  are  taken  by  the  Railways  to  prevent human deaths in Untoward Incidents on Railway track:-

- (i) Railways have constituted interdepartmental 'Joint Committee'

comprising officers of Safety, Security, Signal & Engineering departments  across  all  Zonal  Railways  to  study  the  causes  and suggest  specific  measures  to  minimise  deaths  due  to  untoward incidents  including  trespassing  by  humans.    Accordingly,  preventive and corrective measures are taken to improve and create infrastructure to minimise casualties.

- (ii) Regular announcements are made through Passenger Address System at Railway stations urging passengers to use foot over bridges (FOBs) and to avoid crossing of railway tracks.
- (iii) Various awareness campaigns are organized by Railways to sensitize passengers  about  the  fatalities of crossing railway tracks, footboard/roof-top travelling, boarding/de-boarding running trains etc.
- (iv) Regular  drives  are  conducted  against  trespassing,  travelling  on  footboard, steps, roof top of trains, boarding/de-boarding running trains and the persons apprehended are prosecuted under the relevant provisions of the Railways Act, 1989.
- (v) Railway Protection Force personnel are deployed on locations vulnerable for trespassing.
- (vi) Erection of boundary wall/fencing at identified locations, vulnerable to trespass.
- (vii) Warning  sign  boards  are  provided  at  conspicuous  places  for  the awareness of passengers.
- (viii) Unauthorized  trespassing  on  Railway  premises  including  the  Railway track is a punishable offence under section 147 of the Railways Act, 1989.  During  the  previous  year  i.e.  2022,  total  124499  persons  were prosecuted  for  trespassing  on  railways  from  whom  an  amount  of  ₹. 3.92 Cr. have been realized as fine by Hon'ble courts.

*****

APPENDIX-I REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) OF STARRED QUESTION NO. 87 BY SHRI PRADYUT BORDOLOI AND SHRI FEROZE VARUN GANDHI TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 08.02.2023 REGARDING ACCIDENTS ON RAILWAY TRACKS

(a):  The  State/UT-wise  details  of  number  of  deaths  of  humans  reported  on railways  as  provided  in  Accidental  Deaths  and  Suicides  in  India(ADSI)data published by NCRB for the years 2014 to 2021 are as under:-

| State/UT          |   Number of deaths of human reported on railways and published in ADSI during the year 2014 to 2021 |   Number of deaths of human reported on railways and published in ADSI during the year 2014 to 2021 |   Number of deaths of human reported on railways and published in ADSI during the year 2014 to 2021 |   Number of deaths of human reported on railways and published in ADSI during the year 2014 to 2021 |   Number of deaths of human reported on railways and published in ADSI during the year 2014 to 2021 |   Number of deaths of human reported on railways and published in ADSI during the year 2014 to 2021 |   Number of deaths of human reported on railways and published in ADSI during the year 2014 to 2021 |   Number of deaths of human reported on railways and published in ADSI during the year 2014 to 2021 |
|-------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| State/UT          |                                                                                                2014 |                                                                                                2015 |                                                                                                2016 |                                                                                                2017 |                                                                                                2018 |                                                                                                2019 |                                                                                                2020 |                                                                                                2021 |
| ANDHRA PRADESH    |                                                                                                1469 |                                                                                                1401 |                                                                                                1396 |                                                                                                1365 |                                                                                                1532 |                                                                                                1519 |                                                                                                 613 |                                                                                                 760 |
| ARUNACHAL PRADESH |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   1 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |
| ASSAM             |                                                                                                 690 |                                                                                                 674 |                                                                                                 636 |                                                                                                 571 |                                                                                                 579 |                                                                                                 598 |                                                                                                 422 |                                                                                                 461 |
| BIHAR             |                                                                                                1089 |                                                                                                1907 |                                                                                                1768 |                                                                                                1763 |                                                                                                1807 |                                                                                                1864 |                                                                                                 972 |                                                                                                1314 |
| CHHATTISGARH      |                                                                                                 664 |                                                                                                 531 |                                                                                                 507 |                                                                                                 422 |                                                                                                 428 |                                                                                                 467 |                                                                                                 331 |                                                                                                 412 |
| GOA               |                                                                                                  34 |                                                                                                  47 |                                                                                                  41 |                                                                                                  52 |                                                                                                  39 |                                                                                                  50 |                                                                                                  23 |                                                                                                  49 |
| GUJARAT           |                                                                                                1191 |                                                                                                1203 |                                                                                                1126 |                                                                                                1028 |                                                                                                1022 |                                                                                                1012 |                                                                                                 493 |                                                                                                 579 |
| HARYANA           |                                                                                                1380 |                                                                                                1287 |                                                                                                1218 |                                                                                                2087 |                                                                                                2149 |                                                                                                1362 |                                                                                                 560 |                                                                                                 948 |
| HIMACHAL PRADESH  |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |
| JAMMU & KASHMIR   |                                                                                                  53 |                                                                                                  61 |                                                                                                  49 |                                                                                                  67 |                                                                                                  63 |                                                                                                  45 |                                                                                                   9 |                                                                                                  22 |
| JHARKHAND         |                                                                                                 409 |                                                                                                 238 |                                                                                                 479 |                                                                                                 431 |                                                                                                 456 |                                                                                                 488 |                                                                                                 288 |                                                                                                 388 |
| KARNATAKA         |                                                                                                  25 |                                                                                                 897 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   6 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                  15 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |
| KERALA            |                                                                                                 413 |                                                                                                 332 |                                                                                                 384 |                                                                                                 479 |                                                                                                 431 |                                                                                                 412 |                                                                                                 201 |                                                                                                 295 |
| MADHYA PRADESH    |                                                                                                2020 |                                                                                                2074 |                                                                                                1783 |                                                                                                1506 |                                                                                                1548 |                                                                                                1641 |                                                                                                 964 |                                                                                                1275 |
| MAHARASHTRA       |                                                                                                5045 |                                                                                                4719 |                                                                                                4462 |                                                                                                4017 |                                                                                                3801 |                                                                                                3916 |                                                                                                1922 |                                                                                                2535 |
| MANIPUR           |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |
| MEGHALAYA         |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   1 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |
| MIZORAM           |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |
| NAGALAND          |                                                                                                  11 |                                                                                                   9 |                                                                                                  14 |                                                                                                   9 |                                                                                                   9 |                                                                                                   8 |                                                                                                   3 |                                                                                                   9 |
| ODISHA            |                                                                                                 379 |                                                                                                 284 |                                                                                                 244 |                                                                                                 387 |                                                                                                 430 |                                                                                                 446 |                                                                                                 282 |                                                                                                 306 |
| PUNJAB            |                                                                                                1023 |                                                                                                 917 |                                                                                                 853 |                                                                                                 811 |                                                                                                 872 |                                                                                                 831 |                                                                                                 333 |                                                                                                 577 |
| RAJASTHAN         |                                                                                                 671 |                                                                                                 695 |                                                                                                 684 |                                                                                                 581 |                                                                                                 636 |                                                                                                 775 |                                                                                                 415 |                                                                                                 655 |
| SIKKIM            |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |
| TAMIL NADU        |                                                                                                1833 |                                                                                                1734 |                                                                                                1831 |                                                                                                1963 |                                                                                                2031 |                                                                                                2086 |                                                                                                 902 |                                                                                                1301 |
| TELANGANA         |                                                                                                1073 |                                                                                                1153 |                                                                                                 905 |                                                                                                 702 |                                                                                                 641 |                                                                                                 631 |                                                                                                 337 |                                                                                                 412 |
| TRIPURA           |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                  14 |                                                                                                  33 |                                                                                                  23 |                                                                                                  32 |                                                                                                  25 |                                                                                                  40 |
| UTTAR PRADESH     |                                                                                                4369 |                                                                                                4812 |                                                                                                4087 |                                                                                                3553 |                                                                                                3788 |                                                                                                4376 |                                                                                                2119 |                                                                                                2919 |
| UTTARAKHAND       |                                                                                                  55 |                                                                                                 150 |                                                                                                  46 |                                                                                                  32 |                                                                                                  33 |                                                                                                  52 |                                                                                                   7 |                                                                                                  29 |
| WEST BENGAL       |                                                                                                2814 |                                                                                                2675 |                                                                                                2651 |                                                                                                2833 |                                                                                                2852 |                                                                                                2939 |                                                                                                1515 |                                                                                                2402 |
| DELHI             |                                                                                                 867 |                                                                                                 900 |                                                                                                 922 |                                                                                                 795 |                                                                                                 880 |                                                                                                 807 |                                                                                                 417 |                                                                                                 550 |
| PUDUCHERRY        |                                                                                                   4 |                                                                                                  15 |                                                                                                   3 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   1 |                                                                                                   9 |                                                                                                   0 |                                                                                                   0 |

APPENDIX-II REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) OF STARRED QUESTION NO. 87 BY SHRI PRADYUT BORDOLOI AND SHRI FEROZE VARUN GANDHI TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 08.02.2023 REGARDING ACCIDENTS ON RAILWAY TRACKS (a): The Zone-wise details of death of elephants on railway tracks during the

## last nine years i.e. 2014 to 2022 are as under:-

| Railway            |   2014 |   2015 |   2016 |   2017 |   2018 |   2019 |   2020 |   2021 |   2022 |
|--------------------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
| East Coast         |      0 |      1 |      0 |      0 |      1 |      2 |      2 |      3 |      0 |
| Northern           |      0 |      1 |      1 |      0 |      3 |      2 |      2 |      2 |      0 |
| North Eastern      |      0 |      0 |      0 |      2 |      2 |      0 |      0 |      2 |      1 |
| Northeast Frontier |      5 |      9 |      9 |     10 |      9 |      4 |      6 |      5 |      8 |
| Southern           |      0 |      0 |      4 |      0 |      1 |      2 |      3 |      4 |      2 |
| South Eastern      |      0 |      0 |      5 |      1 |      7 |      0 |      3 |      2 |      3 |
| South East Central |      0 |      0 |      0 |      1 |      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |
| South Western      |      0 |      0 |      0 |      1 |      3 |      0 |      0 |      1 |      0 |

*****