An elephant herd begins its nightly journey across a landscape it has travelled for generations.

Then a train rounds the bend.

Its headlights catch the elephants on the tracks, leaving the loco pilot only seconds to react. Emergency brakes are applied, but a fully loaded train travelling at speed can take a considerable distance to come to a complete halt.

By then, it may already be too late.

This is the problem Indian Railways hopes artificial intelligence can help solve: detect the elephant before the driver can see it.

India is home to an estimated 22,446 wild elephants, nearly 60% of the world’s wild Asian elephant population. The country also has 150 identified elephant corridors connecting habitats across landscapes increasingly crossed by roads, railway lines and settlements.

Railway tracks pose a recurring threat along some of these routes. According to data shared by the Union Government in the Lok Sabha in July 2025, 81 elephants died in train collisions between 2019-20 and 2023-24.

Now, an AI-powered system is attempting to give both elephants and train drivers something crucial: time.

Listening before the collision

Rather than building entirely new infrastructure, Indian Railways developed Gajraj Suraksha, an AI-enabled Intrusion Detection System (IDS) that makes use of the optical fibre cables laid beneath railway tracks for signalling and communication.

The Gajraj Suraksha technology relies on Distributed Acoustic Sensors (DAS), which detect vibrations travelling through fibre optic cables. Every animal creates a distinct movement signature. 

Gajraj has been trained to recognise the locomotion pattern of elephants and distinguish it from other ground movements.

Once detected, the system immediately sends alerts to loco pilots, station masters and railway control rooms, allowing trains to slow down or stop before reaching the crossing.

The project, announced by the Railways........

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