Jharsuguda, April 16

Four elephants were killed after being run over by a train near a level crossing under Bagadihi Forest Range area in Jharsuguda district on Monday.

The tragedy struck when the jumbos were crossing the railway track on the Howrah-Mumbai line near Teladihi in the wee hours, said Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF) PK Dhal.

Two tuskers and two female pachyderms were killed in the incident, he said, adding that jumbos often passed through the area which was an elephant corridor.

The impact of the mishap was so severe that the pachyderms were thrown away quite a distance, said an official.

Senior railway officials rushed to the site and arrangements were made for removal of the carcasses, he said.

The traffic on the Howrah-Mumbai down line was also affected following the incident. Some trains were controlled at different stations before normalcy was restored on the route, said officials.

Dhal said the forest officials had already urged the railway authorities to ensure the running of trains at slow speed in elephant corridors.

According to norms, drivers must limit the speed of trains to 30 kmph while passing through elephant corridors and constantly blow horns to alert the jumbos crossing railway tracks.

Wildlife experts and activists expressed concern over the incident saying the railways must take steps to control train speeds in identified crossing zones and prevent such incidents. PTI</s>Bhubaneswar, April 16 (IANS) Four elephants were killed after a train hit them on a railway track in Odisha’s Jharsuguda district on Monday.

The incident occurred near the Bagdihi forest range, said a forest department official.

A herd comprising three elephants and a calf were crossing the tracks when they were hit. All of them were killed instantly, said Batakrushna Sethi, Ranger of the Bagdihi forest range.

Sethi said the railway department had been asked to reduce the speed of trains while crossing the forest range.</s>At least 4 elephants were killed after they were hit by a train in India's eastern state of Odisha. The incident happened Monday, April 16, near Telidihi Village in Odisha's Jharsuguda district.

The herd of elephants – one tusker, two female elephants and a calf – was crossing the railway line at around 4 am. The elephants were hit by the Bokaro-Alleppey Express near Bagdihi Railway Station, The Hindu reported.

"Although there was no elephant movement in the area for the past three to four months, the railway authorities were duly informed to reduce train speed in that section. Besides, they were also requested to follow guidelines including making continuous hooting along the stretch," Sushant Kumar, the divisional forest officer of Jharsuguda territorial division, told the publication.

The railway tracks were inoperable for a few hours after the incident. Forest officials removed the bodies with the help of cranes and cleared the track.

Biswajit Mohanty, an environmentalist and former member of National Board for Wildlife, has said that forest and railway officials should take the responsibility.

"The death of four elephants is a tragic incident. While forest department appears to be not sincere in identifying sections in which elephant movements are frequent, trains continue to move fast through elephant corridors," Mohanty said.

In February, 4 elephants were killed and 2 were injured in India's northeastern state of Assam when the herd was crossing rail tracks. The elephants died on the spot and the engine was damaged.

According to a forest department official, around 70 elephants died in 2017 in the area due to electrocution, speeding trains, poisoning, human attacks, and other accidents. In Odisha, over 15 elephants have been killed by speeding trains since 2010.</s>There are only around 20,000-25,000 Indian elephants remaining in the wild. Source: Twitter/ Roadkills India

A HERD of four elephants including an infant has been mown down by a speeding train in eastern India, in the worst incident of its kind since 2012.

A freight train travelling through a forest known to be an elephant corridor in the state of Odisha slammed into the elephants in the early hours of Monday morning. In the past decade, at least 22 elephants have been killed on train tracks in the state, reported the Hindustan Times.

The latest incident occurred some 20km away from the Sambalpur elephant reserve, with forest officials believing the animals had come from the park.

“Although there was no elephant movement in the area for the past three to four months, the railway authorities were duly informed to reduce train speed in that section,” said a representative of the local forest authorities, Sushant Kumar as quoted by The Hindu.

“Besides, they were also requested to follow guidelines including making continuous hooting along the stretch,” he said.

SEE ALSO: For Rohingya refugees fleeing persecution, elephants pose a new threat

According to WWF, there are only around 20,000-25,000 Indian elephants remaining in the wild, meaning it is classified as endangered. Conflict with humans is a major threat to its population as well as the illegal wildlife trade.

In Odisha, some 589 elephants have died in the past decade, of which 205 deaths were unnatural, according to the Hindustan Times. Death on train tracks was the third greatest cause.

“We have also written to the SE Railway asking it to reduce the train speed to 30km per hour on the route, particularly on the stretch between Jharsuguda division and Bamra wildlife division, henceforth,” another local conservation official said.

“At such a high speed, there’s no chance the elephants would have survived,” Biswajit Mohanty, a local wildlife expert told the New York Times. “This is a big violation.”

“Today’s incident is nothing less than massacre of elephants by Railways,” he added.</s>Four elephants die after being hit by a goods train

In Odisha, four elephants die after a goods train hit them today near Jharsuguda area. Watch the video to know more.</s>Four elephants, including a young calf, were killed by a train in India on Monday.

The New York Times reports that the herd was crossing tracks when they were hit by a speeding freight train in Eastern India. A bull elephant, two female elephants and a calf were killed, it said.

Photos shows the gruesome aftermath of the collision, with the elephants’ lifeless bodies strewn across the tracks.

WARNING, GRAPHIC IMAGES: GREEDY SNAKE TRIES TO EAT 8 CHICKEN EGGS AT ONCE, FAILS MISERABLY



An official in Odisha State, where the accident occurred, told the New York Times that the train was travelling at 75 mph when it hit the elephants. The speed limit on that stretch of track is about 20 mph, he said.

SWNS reports that the animals were trekking through the Bagedihi forest range when they were struck at an unmanned level crossing at 3.30 a.m. local time. Three cranes were used to remove the bodies from the tracks.

Locals reportedly gathered at the spot to pray and leave floral tributes to the animals, which Hindus believe are a living incarnation god Ganesh.

It is thought that the elephants had trekked about 12 miles from a wildlife reserve.

Last year, three elephants, including two calves, lost their lives at the same spot in two separate incidents, according to The Times of India.</s>Odisha: 4 elephants killed after being hit by a goods train near Telidihi Village in Jharsuguda. pic.twitter.com/1nyQ2fPJzB</s>Four elephants, including a tusker and a calf, were killed early Monday morning in an elephant corridor Jharsuguda district of Odisha when they were knocked down by a speeding train in the worst such tragedy in the state since 2012.

The 12810 Howrah-Mumbai Mail passing through Bagdihi forest range rammed into the pachyderms as they were trying to negotiate their way across track near an unmanned level crossing near Teladihi early this morning. All the animals were killed in the impact of collision, said Jharsuguda Divisional Forest Officer Sushant Kumar.

Forest officials said the herd probably was coming from the Bamra wildlife division, a part of the Sambalpur elephant reserve, around 20 km away.

Three earth moving machines were deployed to clear the carcasses from the tracks . Several trains including Bokaro-Alleppey Express and Tapaswini Express were stopped at Jharsuguda station.

Wildlife activists said the mishap exacerbates concerns about the state’s record on such incidents. In December 2012, the Coromandel Express knocked down six elephants at Rambha area of Ganjam district. In the last 8 years, 22 elephants in the state have been killed on rail tracks.

The place where Monday’s mishap took place is known to be a vulnerable spot for elephants. Last September, a four-month-old calf that had sneaked into Teladihi village in search of food died after falling into a railway trench. A month later, a 15-year-old female elephant was electrocuted by a stray live wire while trying to rescue her calf that had fallen into another trench. The calf died too.

In the aftermath of the December 2012 incident in Ganjam district, a committee set up by the Union ministry of environment and forests had recommended that the Railways should restrict the speed of trains passing through identified vulnerable areas in forests to a maximum 40 km per hour to prevent elephant deaths. The committee had advised speed restrictions through identified vulnerable tracks in Odisha as is done in Rajaji National Park in Uttarakhand. Ever since these recommendations were implemented, the number of train kills had came down in the following three years.

Also read:Railways to build 500km wall along Delhi-Mumbai route to quicken pace of trains

But Monday’s incident sparked outrage rage among wildlife activists who said it was apparent that despite the forest department and the railway authorities being aware about the spot being an elephant corridor, they did nothing to prevent more deaths.

“Today’s incident is nothing less than massacre of elephants by Railways. The forest department had issued a specific advisory to the Railways to slow down trains at Teladihi section as it was a regular elephant crossing zone. Why did not the Railways take the necessary steps? The casual approach towards safety of wildlife would not be tolerated. An immediate enquiry needs to be done to fix responsibility after identifying the lapses and failure on part of the railways,” said Dr Biswajit Mohanty, former member of National Board of Wildlife.

Mohanty said in Odisha the frequency and number of trains, specially goods trains in mining and industrial areas have gone up sharply.

Activists claim that despite rising elephant casualties in Odisha over last decade, officials haven’t taken enough measures to prevent such incidents. In last nine years, 589 elephants have died, of which 205 deaths were unnatural. While poaching (95) and electrocution (87) were main reasons of these unnatural deaths, death on train tracks was the third biggest cause.</s>A special pilgrimage train for senior citizens, under the Baristha Nagarika Tirtha Yatra Yojana, has been flagged off from Sambalpur station by Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

The train, flagged off through video conferencing yesterday, will take senior citizens to Shirdi, Nasik and Trimbakeshwar during the seven-day tour, District Tourist Officer, Rabindra Dalei said. As many as 998 senior citizens from 10 districts of the western region of the state boarded the train.

The Odisha government has signed an MoU with the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation for the pilgrimage plan on the basis of which the company will provide all requisite facilities to the pilgrims in the train, he said. People in the age group of 60-75 years are eligible to avail the benefit of the plan. Senior citizens from below poverty line (BPL) categories are given 100 per cent concessions under the scheme, Dalei said. One escort officer was appointed for every 50 senior citizens for helping them during the journey, Dalei said.

This is for the second time that the pilgrimage train was flagged off from Sambalpur station. In November 2016, 986 senior citizens from across the region had visited places like Haridwar and Rishikesh as part of the pilgrimage plan. Odisha Labour and Energy Susant Singh, Sambalpur District Collecto, Samarth Verma and Sambalpur MLA, Raseswari Panigrahi were present at the station yesterday.</s>Residents of early Penticton, who documented life at the turn of the century, estimate that there were eighty four-horse and six-horse freight outfits supplying the mines to the south from the wharves in Penticton. This is about the same number of eighteen wheelers operating in and out of Penticton supplying goods to the city today.

J.A. Nesbitt stated, “The town was alive with freighters and freight teams, four and six horse, and pack trains intermingling on the dock. The night was lurid with campfires; loaded wagons were placed where possible to leave road space ready to pullout in the morning. The hotel did a roaring trade.”

There was a high status to being a freighter but the life was difficult. Most of the teams that stayed out were tied to the wagon. The teamster slept under the wagon. Then, early in the morning the horses and the teamster had to be fed. After feeding the teams were groomed and checked for sweat scalds, harnessed, and hitched to the wagon. Most freighters prepared for the trip by loading heavy machinery and equipment into a high wheeled freight wagon with few, if any mechanical lifters.

Some of the names of the freight outfits who had multiple wagons were the Bassett’s and Gillespie’s of Okanagan Falls, Dave Innis of Keremeos, and Garrison’s of Princeton. Some single wagon outfits were Gerry Clark of Green Mountain and the Brent’s of Shingle Creek.

The first day to Fairview near Oliver, was spent navigating the sand hill behind the Catholic Church on the Indian Reserve. Teamsters often doubled up their teams to haul the wagons up this soft sandy slope. The switchbacks were most difficult due to the tight turns. Larger wagons would unhook the teams at tight corners, then drag the wagon straight, then re-hook and proceed to the next switchback. The trip was shortest through Twin Lakes and could be completed in 2 days with 4 changes of horses.

A trip to the Nickel Plate Mine at Hedley was four or five days, depending on how many horses were needed to navigate the old Green Mountain Road. The stage coach to Princeton took six days.

Local Native ranchers provided many of the changes of horses along this route and were involved in the breeding and training of many of the teams. The first draft horses were from the wild mares of Marron Valley crossed with imported stallions. These tough little mustangs that had escaped from the early Hudson’s Bay Company fur brigade pack trains, and had multiplied, were the foundation of stock for many early horse ranches. The Clarks of Green Mountain had two stallions crossed with these mares; the offspring of one was used as a draft animal and the other as saddle stock. Frank Richter of Keremeos imported a Percheron stallion from France and raised premium draft animals. Many other horses were brought in from the prairies.

Working horses needed good hay and grain. Locally the Native Band supplied hay from their sub irrigated meadows near the river. The Brent’s of Shingle Creek grew hay and grain and had a horse operated baler.

The coming of the Great Northern railroad, first to Keremeos in 1907 and to Hedley in 1909, carried concentrated gold ore from Hedley directly to the smelter at Spokane. Up to this time the concentrate was taken by teams and wagons to Trail and then shipped by American rail to the smelter. By the time the CPR reached Penticton in 1915, the horse freighting boom was all but over.

Of course, draught horses were still used on farms or for logging and other industries. But the day of that dedicated horse freighter, who perched himself high on his wagon seat, guiding his teams around obstacles in the road, was over. Sometimes, the wind on the Apex road will carry the jingle of bells hanging from the harness nigh leader, reminding us of a forgotten highway.
Four elephants are killed after being hit by a freight train near a Bagadihi Forest Range area in Jharsuguda district in the Indian state of Odisha.