Southern Railway's ambitious project to construct the first ever under-pass for wild elephants has entered its final phase. The launching of composite girders onto the structure built for pachyderm movement on the Ettimadai Walayar, marks an important milestone in this project. The under-pass will help f safer movement of elephants across the railway track and protect them from human-wildlife conflicts.
Coimbatore:The introduction of composite girders onto the structure created for pachyderm movement on the Ettimadai Walayar section, which connects Tamil Nadu and Kerala, marks the completion of the Southern Railway's first underpass for wild elephants.
According to the Southern Railway's Palakkad Division, the bridge has been commissioned, and the maintenance work will be completed by the end of June.
The bridge on the 'B' line of the 'A' and 'B' twin single line between Ettimadai -Walayar offers a 60 feet wide and 20 feet high passage underneath the track for the elephants to cross through, said the Division.
The works were carried out by blocking traffic via the 'B' line for 12 hours on June 11 by diverting all the trains via the 'A' line and not cancelling passenger trains.
According to the Division, two composite girders for the underpass were launched by replacing the two temporary steel girders at the location 'km 505A/400-500' of 'B' line which passes through Madukkarai forest range of the Coimbatore Forest Division The works for the elephant underpass started on December 21, 2022 after launching two temporary girders on the track.
This enabled the construction of substructure and pier of the bridge simultaneously with non-stop train traffic. All construction activities were carried out under the temporary girders, said the division.
After the completion of the first underpass, the Railways will construct a second one at the location 'km 506/900- 506A/00' on the 'B' line. The Rail- ways had sanctioned 7.49 crore for the project.
According to the Division, work on the second underpass will begin after the monsoon and is expected to be completed by March 2024.
The 'A' and 'B' lines in Tamil Nadu run 1.8 km and 2.8 km through the Soolakarai forest beat of the Maduk-karai forest range, respectively. Between Ettimadai and Walayar, the 'B' line largely runs through forests. The 'A' line crosses through a tiny section of forest, forming a forest patch between the two lines.
According to Forest De- partment officials, the movement of elephants happens towards the dense forest and the peri for which they cross tracks between Ettimadai and Walayar. They often cross both lines to stray into villages to feed on crops. At times, they remain in the forest patch between both lines, said Forest officials.
J. Sathish, former mem- ber of Divisional Railway Users' Consultative Committee, and Director of Kongu Global Forum, said the permanent solution to avoid elephants getting knocked down by moving trains was to suspend traffic on B line permanently and construct an elevated line close to the A line. As per Forest Depart ment statistics, a total of 11 elephants have been killed in six major accidents since 2008 on the Tamil Nadu side alone.
According to the Southern Railway's Palakkad Division, the bridge has been commissioned, and the maintenance work will be completed by the end of June.
The bridge on the 'B' line of the 'A' and 'B' twin single line between Ettimadai -Walayar offers a 60 feet wide and 20 feet high passage underneath the track for the elephants to cross through, said the Division.
The works were carried out by blocking traffic via the 'B' line for 12 hours on June 11 by diverting all the trains via the 'A' line and not cancelling passenger trains.
According to the Division, two composite girders for the underpass were launched by replacing the two temporary steel girders at the location 'km 505A/400-500' of 'B' line which passes through Madukkarai forest range of the Coimbatore Forest Division The works for the elephant underpass started on December 21, 2022 after launching two temporary girders on the track.
This enabled the construction of substructure and pier of the bridge simultaneously with non-stop train traffic. All construction activities were carried out under the temporary girders, said the division.
After the completion of the first underpass, the Railways will construct a second one at the location 'km 506/900- 506A/00' on the 'B' line. The Rail- ways had sanctioned 7.49 crore for the project.
According to the Division, work on the second underpass will begin after the monsoon and is expected to be completed by March 2024.
The 'A' and 'B' lines in Tamil Nadu run 1.8 km and 2.8 km through the Soolakarai forest beat of the Maduk-karai forest range, respectively. Between Ettimadai and Walayar, the 'B' line largely runs through forests. The 'A' line crosses through a tiny section of forest, forming a forest patch between the two lines.
According to Forest De- partment officials, the movement of elephants happens towards the dense forest and the peri for which they cross tracks between Ettimadai and Walayar. They often cross both lines to stray into villages to feed on crops. At times, they remain in the forest patch between both lines, said Forest officials.
J. Sathish, former mem- ber of Divisional Railway Users' Consultative Committee, and Director of Kongu Global Forum, said the permanent solution to avoid elephants getting knocked down by moving trains was to suspend traffic on B line permanently and construct an elevated line close to the A line. As per Forest Depart ment statistics, a total of 11 elephants have been killed in six major accidents since 2008 on the Tamil Nadu side alone.