Alert pilots pull brakes to save elephant as it strays into tracks in eastern India
by Sudipto MaityA goods train was detained for 35 minutes after an adult elephant strayed into the tracks in eastern India’s West Bengal.
The incident took place between Gulma railway Station and Sivok railway station in Alipurduar division on June 7.
Visuals showed the pachyderm standing on the tracks, as the pilots blew the horn, in an attempt to drive it away.
But the action did little to move the elephant, which was later sent back to its natural habitat by staff from the forest department.
Meanwhile, alert Loco Pilot N K Sha and Assistant Loco Pilot S Kundu pressed the brakes in time to save the pachyderm from an accident.
“We are using advanced technology to prevent any man-animal conflict and mitigate accidents. We are going to upgrade our system in the near future and make it accessible to everyone in the system, from the pilots to gateman, to make tracking easier,” Dilip Kumar Singh, Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Alipurduar, had told Newslions in an earlier interaction.