'Plan Bee' a success for Indian Railways

New Delhi : The Indian Railways' initiative 'Plan Bee' to prevent trains from hitting elephants crossing tracks has turned out to be successful.

In a bid to save elephants from accidents while crossing tracks, the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) adopted 'Plan Bee' last year. Under this, a device which costs around Rs 2,000 was installed first at the level crossings near Guwahati railway station.

Railways Minister Piyush Goyal shared a video which showed that the device amplifies the buzz of swarming honeybees, which is considered as a natural nemesis of elephants and is audible to an elephant 600 meters away.

A number of cases have been reported from several parts of the country, where elephants have collided with trains at railway crossings.

Minister of state in the Ministry of Railways Rajesh Gohain in the Lok Sabha last year informed that 35 elephants were killed on railway tracks during 2014 to 2016 and five elephants were killed till July 2017. A number of measures had been taken by Railways in coordination with the Ministry of Environment and Forest, he further said.

In April this year, four elephants were hit by the Howrah-Mumbai Express at the double-crossing railway tracks near Telidihi village of Jharsugida district in Odisha, killing all four on the spot.