In a very distressing incident, an elephant was hit by a speeding train in West Bengal's Dooars on Friday (September 27) morning. A video of the incident has gone viral on the internet.
The incident reportedly took place at 8:30 am when the SGUJ-DBB (Siliguri-Dhubri) Intercity Express, which runs between Banarhat and Nagrakata, hit the elephant, which was crossing the tracks at that fateful moment.
The video which has gone viral on social media shows the helpless animal critically wounded and struggling to get out of the tracks and people helplessly watching the heartbreaking situation. The train engine was also damaged after the mishap.
Unfortunately, this is not the only incident in the region as the train tracks go right through the Dooars and there are numerous elephant corridors which many have been killed or injured due to this.
(Warning - The video is highly distressing)
Even though the Railways have taken measures to avoid these accidents, they are still inevitable. Some measures are limiting the train speed to 25 kmph inside forests but the speed was then raised to 50 kmph.
According to an India Today report, between 2013 and 2019, 67 elephants were killed in train accidents.
"We have imposed a 24-hour speed restriction along a 15km stretch between Chalsa and Banarhat stations in the Dooars. For 10 kms, trains will run at a speed of 30 kmph from 5pm to 5am, while along the remaining 5-km stretch, the trains will run at a speed of 30 kmph for 24 hours," CV Raman, a railway manager of the Northern Frontier Railways said in 2018.
