Tamil Nadu forest department has launched AI and Machine learning enabled Surveillance project which aims to prevent death of elephants on railways tracks. This is India’s first project to prevent elephant deaths and marks a milestone. The surveillance project is launched at Madukkarai in Coimbatore by Hon’ble Forest Minister M. Mathiventhan .

Let it be notes that the area is highly prone to collision of trains with elephants as about 130 trains pass two railway tracks everyday. Close to 1,000 elephants cross these two tracks in a year. From 2008 till date 11 elephants have lost their lives on these tracks after colliding with trains.

Today marks a milestone in our conservation journey for saving precious elephants as India's first project to prevent elephant deaths on Railway tracks gets launched at Madukkarai by TN Forest Dept. The AI and Machine learning enabled Surveillance project aims to prevent death of… pic.twitter.com/Z18qHUj3dJ

— Supriya Sahu IAS (@supriyasahuias) February 9, 2024

The forest department has collaborated with Rail Ministry to establish this surveillance project. Twelve towers with thermal cameras have been set up with a control room to provide real time monitoring and creating alerts. Each tower has twin thermal night vision cameras to capture images of elephants as they approach railway tracks. The AI and ML system will generate alerts to reach wireless sets on railway stations so that loco drivers could be alerted.