GUWAHATI: Two elephants were mowed down by a moving train when a 16-member jumbo herd was crossing railway tracks near Thakurkuchi railway station in the outskirt of city on Saturday midnight.The mishap took place barely 100 meter away from the railway station . Both forest and railway officials said that the place where the collision took place was not used by elephants to cross the tracks earlier.Guwahati wildlife divisional forest officer, Pradipta Baruah said the Guwahati-bound Avadh Express collided with the elephants at a spot which is two to three kilometer far from the identified corridor used by jumbos to cross the tracks in the area.The elephants might have come from the nearby Amsang wildlife sanctuary."Both forest and railway personnel were jointly patrolling along the identified corridor. It is unfortunate that the mishap happened at a spot which is far off the identified corridor. All the members of the herd managed to cross over, except the two female elephants," Baruah said.Baruah added that rest of the herd members have taken shelter in adjoining Chandrapur area, and patrolling has been intensified along the tracks to alert railway stations in case the herd tries to cross over the tracks.In 2008, also a jumbo was killed in collision with moving train in Panikhaiti area which is also close to Thakurkuchi.With the onset of harvest season, elephants frequently cross over railway tracks, which pass through many of the jumbo habitats, in search of food.While speed of trains is reduced along the identified elephant corridors, the speed limit is relaxed once the train is out of demarcated elephant movement area. However, forest officials said that elephant crossing over tracks which are not within identified corridors has posed a serious problem in averting collision with trains.Last year at least seven elephants died due to collision with trains. Most of the jumbo casualties were outside the identified vulnerable locations where elephants normally cross the railway tracks.Experts said that over the years, elephants have been seen increasingly using new areas for movement across the railway tracks, increasing the vulnerability of collision in places outside the identified corridors. Experts said that elephant herd get scattered and take new routes when the jumbos are chased by humans when the jumbos come to villages for feeding.North East Frontier Railway (NFR)said over 12 imminent elephant-train collisions were averted last winter because of intensified patrolling by railway and forest personnel. According to NFR between 2013 and 2016 altogether 47 elephants were saved from colliding with moving train.

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