Indian Railways has begun operating an AI-enabled intrusion detection system, known as Gajraj Suraksha, that uses Distributed Acoustic Sensing along optical fibre cables running beside the tracks. Vibrations from approaching elephants are picked up by the fibre and analysed by AI to identify movement patterns, generating real-time alerts for loco pilots, station masters and control rooms.
By February 2026 the system was active across 141 route kilometres of the Northeast Frontier Railway, and installations have been sanctioned on vulnerable stretches in eight railway zones including East Coast, Southern and South Eastern Railways.
The technology addresses a long-standing safety gap: a fully loaded train can require roughly 1.6 kilometres to stop after emergency braking, leaving crews only seconds to react when an elephant appears in headlights. Government data presented in July 2025 showed 81 elephants died in train collisions between 2019-20 and 2023-24.
A December 2025 collision in Assam's Hojai district killed seven elephants and derailed a Rajdhani Express; the accident occurred outside a designated elephant corridor, illustrating that animals often cross tracks beyond officially mapped points.
In Tamil Nadu's Madukkarai Forest Range near Coimbatore, the forest department installed 24 AI-enabled thermal cameras along a vulnerable railway stretch. Over approximately two and a half years the system generated more than 7,100 alerts, and coordinated responses by forest teams and railway staff facilitated around 9,481 safe elephant crossings with zero deaths on that section.
Tamil Nadu has since added AI-enabled drones to extend surveillance beyond the fixed cameras, demonstrating that detection works best when paired with rapid human coordination.
Railways and forest authorities have surveyed 127 sensitive stretches covering more than 3,450 kilometres, prioritising 77 stretches totalling nearly 1,965 kilometres across 14 states for mitigation. A total of 705 interventions have been recommended, including underpasses, overpasses, ramps, bridge modifications, speed restrictions, solar lighting, vegetation clearance and acoustic deterrents.
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change data indicates train-hit elephant deaths fell from 26 in 2013 to 12 in 2024, suggesting the combined measures are having an effect, though each death still marks a collision between ancient migration routes and modern infrastructure.
When Elephants Cross Railway Tracks, ‘Gajraj AI’ Alerts Drivers to Slow Trains in Time
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