Elephants stray near tracks in Jharkhand, 11 trains affected as railways enforce speed curbs

Movement of about a dozen trains under the Chakradharpur division of South Eastern Railway was affected, as a herd of elephants came close to the tracks, officials said on Sunday.

On being informed about the movement of pachyderms near rail tracks, the authorities imposed a speed restriction of 30 km and regulated train movement in the elephant corridor under the Chakradharpur division from 22:45 hours on October 24 to 07:00 hours on October 25, the railways posted on social media on Sunday.

Nine long-distance express trains, including 18404 Dhanbad-Bhubaneswar Express, 18110 NITR-Tata express, 22805 Bhubaneswar-Anand Vihar super fast express, 18030 Shalimar-Mumbai LTT express, among others, were affected during the period, it said.

Besides, two more trains were also affected on the Bangurkela-Nuagaon section of the division between 00:40 hours and 07:00 hours on Sunday following the report of movement of a herd of elephants near the tracks.

The trains affected were 13352 Alappuzha-Dhanbad express and 18403 Bhubaneswar-Dhanbad express.

The railways have restricted the train speed to 30 kmph in both sections.

As passenger safety and protection of wildlife remained priorities, the authorities appealed to passengers to co-operate and bear with the delays caused by elephant movement and the consequent safety restrictions.