An elephant was hit by the 15614 Lachit Express at a spot between Boginadi and Gogamukh railway stations under Rangiya Division of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) on Tuesday night.
However, the elephant seems to have avoided sustaining anyserious injuries, as per details provided by the NFR.
"The train was at slower than normal speed as the area is anotified elephant corridor and drivers had already been given Caution Order todrive at 45 km per hour and be on the lookout for elephant movements. Theelephant appeared suddenly on the railway track and the loco pilot of the trainhad to apply emergency brake. The driver was able to stop the train in 15seconds within a distance of 108 meters but the train slightly dashed with theelephant," said Pranav Jyoti Sharma, Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) ofNFR.
He added, "The assistant loco pilot of the train got downfrom the engine and checked the area nearby the track for the elephant. Hereported seeing the elephant running away towards the nearby jungle. The locopilot and the assistant loco pilot had no prior information regarding elephantmovements from the State Forest officials or villagers. However, they had thepresence of mind to apply emergency brake and controlled the situation."
Sharma said that NFR has taken various initiatives to avoidtrain-elephant collision, including installation of laser speed radar gun todetect over speeding cases in elephant zones.
