Guwahati: GPS tracking and railway alert systems have helped Assam avert potential train-elephant collisions and identify routes to reduce human-elephant conflict.A five-year Assam forest department-WWF-India study mapped elephant movement and habitat use, generating more than 38,000 GPS locations.Titled “Tracking the Giants: Movement and Habitat-Use Patterns of GPS-Collared Elephants in Assam”, the study was conducted between 2021 and 2026. It tracked four female-led herds and one solitary male elephant in Udalguri, Sonitpur and Biswanath districts. Assam forest minister Jayanta Mallabaruah released the findings at the 72nd Wildlife Week event in Guwahati on Tuesday.The study identified Sonai Rupai, Behali and Bornadi wildlife sanctuaries as important elephant habitats. Tea plantations also served as movement pathways and secondary habitats.GPS data showed seasonal variations. Female-led herds expanded their home ranges during the paddy-cropping season, coinciding with increased conflict.Archita Baruah Bhattacharyya, state director for Assam and Arunachal Pradesh at WWF-India, said elephants also used river channels to move north-south between forests along the Himalayan foothills and the grasslands and chaporis of Brahmaputra, revealing less-understood routes.It recorded dry-season movement between Udalguri and Bhutan’s adjoining Jomotsangkha Wildlife Sanctuary, she added, calling for greater coordination between the two countries to secure wildlife corridors.Principal chief conservator of Forests-Wildlife and chief wildlife warden Vinay Gupta said the study filled a major knowledge gap on elephant movement in Assam.WWF-India’s Elephant Conservation Programme lead Aritra Kshettry said the telemetry data identified core natural and secondary habitats and seasonal movement patterns, providing an evidence base for securing elephant habitats and routes and managing human-elephant conflict.Between Jan and Sept this year, Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) averted potential train-elephant collisions involving 257 elephants, Mallabaruah said.The interventions were recorded across four NFR divisions: Lumding, 122; Alipurduar, 106; Tinsukia, 15; and Rangiya, 14. He said the figures represented cases in which alerts and coordinated action averted potential collisions, not conventional wildlife rescues.“Technology has emerged as a key component of the railway’s elephant protection measures. NFR has deployed AI-based Intrusion Detection Systems using distributed acoustic sensing technology on vulnerable stretches. The system detects vibrations and acoustic signatures associated with elephant movement and generates real-time alerts for loco pilots, station masters and control rooms, allowing trains to be slowed, stopped or regulated,” he added.He said the railways’ ‘Plan Bee’ system was also being used at elephant-prone locations. It uses amplified honeybee sounds, which elephants tend to avoid, to discourage them from approaching railway tracks.“These measures are supplemented by night-time and temporary speed restrictions, ground patrolling, cautionary signage, vegetation management and underpasses, besides information-sharing with forest officials and sensitisation of railway personnel and train crews,” he added.
