To prevent elephant deaths on railway tracks caused by speeding trains, the Forest Department of Tamil Nadu is planning to soon use an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system on two railway lines that pass through the Madukkarai forest range between Madukkarai and Walayar in Coimbatore district. The distance of one stretch is 1.8 km and the other 2.8 km.
Indian Masterminds spoke with Principal Chief Conservator of Forest and Chief Wildlife Warden, Tamil Nadu, Dr. Shekhar Kumar Niraj to get more details.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE SYSTEM
To prevent trains hitting elephant on railway tracks, the Tamil Nadu Forest department and the Ministry of Railways have mutually decided to install a sustainable 24×7 artificial intelligence driven autonomous surveillance system in those vulnerable areas, located inside and outside of the reserved forest area. This will warn the forest guards about the elephants crossing. The major key areas would be identified into three zones. The 50 m area from the centre to the track will be the red zone, the next 50 m will be the orange zone, and a further 50 m will be the yellow zone.
After a detailed survey, a 13 km area of forest land has been identified as vulnerable. The Madukkarai forest range tracks have been noted as the hotspot for such accidents. Since 2008, 11 elephants have been killed by speeding trains on the same track.
Dr. Shekhar Kumar Niraj said that, just like in many other sectors, artificial intelligence can be used in good ways, specially in tracking animals like elephants, and other lower animals like leopard, beer, etc.
“What could be the main use of the artificial intelligence technology is the pre-warning that can be given to forest guards, range officers and railway station masters. If the animals are moving towards the tracks and are likely to come into conflicts, then this technology can be very effective. It can also be quite effectively used for tracking illegal activities in forests, like movement of timber, poaching, suspicious movement of people, etc.,” he said.
HOW THE TECHNOLOGY WORKS
Along with the identification of the three zones, an acoustic (hooter) alert and a luminous alert would also be installed at all sensor towers, including the console rooms.
As soon as an elephant enters the yellow zone, an alert will be generated in the console room which will be passed on to the forest watchers.
If the elephant enters or crosses through the orange zone, the message will soon be sent to the forest guards, watchers, forest range officers and railway station master to alert them about the situation.
Simultaneously, if the elephant enters the red zone, alerts will be sent to the district forest officials and divisional railways engineers, who will immediately intimate the loco pilot. Details of the elephant and its distance from the track will be intimated to the loco pilot much in advance.
Dr Niraj said that the plan is still in a very initial stage, it has only been proposed by the Tamil Nadu Forest department. “As of now, only AI based drones are being used to monitor in some places and, that too, in very limited cases. These are expensive technologies and proper process is needed before employing them for use.”
REGULAR USAGE NECESSARY
He further said that the artificial intelligence technology is good only when one has a clear mindset with proper training, which go hand in hand. Otherwise, just employing some technology and not using it after few days doesn’t give a good result.
“This has happened with many other technologies, like metal detector, which I cannot see a single person using now. Similar is the case with drones. They were used for the first few days and, after that, they are just lying unused. Therefore, in the case of AI monitoring, there should be a changed mindset, a sense of responsibility, and regular usage of the system, to get effective results,” Dr Niraj concluded.
