Why in the news?

  • Recently, the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) successfully carried out trial runs of the Intrusion Detection System (IDS) across four major sections, marking a significant step toward enhancing railway safety and preventing track intrusions.

Intrusion Detection System (IDS)

  • What is it?:
    • The IDS is a technological system implemented by Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) under the Ministry of Railways to detect movement of large wildlife (especially elephants) near railway tracks in vulnerable sections and alert train operations. 
    • It uses optical fibre sensing (vibration/acoustic) laid along/near the tracks to pick up intrusions and transmit real-time alerts to control rooms, loco pilots and station staff.
  • Need of the system:
    • Train-elephant collisions have been a recurring issue in the forested/elephant-corridor stretches of Indian Railways; the IDS aims to reduce such fatalities and thereby improve safety for both wildlife and trains. 
    • In strategic geographical regions (such as northeast India) where rail lines cut through wildlife corridors, the IDS contributes to the larger objective of balancing infrastructure growth (connectivity) with biodiversity conservation and human–wildlife coexistence.
    • From a land-use, terrain, and transport geography perspective, IDS deployment reflects the intersection of mobility corridors, ecological sensitivity zones and technological mitigation measures.
  • Working Mechanism:
    • A fibre-optic cable (or vibration/acoustic sensing line) is laid alongside the track (often at a specified distance, e.g., ~10 m) in the high-risk stretch.
    • The sensing mechanism (often Distributed Acoustic Sensing – DAS) detects vibrations caused by large animals approaching or on the track.
    • On detection of such intrusion, the system generates an alarm/alert: this may go to the station master’s console, loco-pilot display or control room. It may trigger warnings to slow down or stop the train.
    • The system is installed in identified critical & vulnerable locations (forest stretches, wildlife corridors) as per environment/forest department mapping.
  • Current Status in India:
    • The system is already working over 141 route km in NFR on sections identified as critical & vulnerable.
    • Works have been sanctioned for a total of 1,158 route km across multiple railway zones (NFR, ECOR, SR, NR, SER, NER, WR, ECR) at a cost of ~₹208 crore.
    • Trial works have been completed in four key sections.
  • Challenges Associated:
    • Terrain & environment: The dense forest, wild terrain and frequent rains/landslides in many sections pose installation and maintenance challenges.
    • False alerts / reliability: In systems like these vibration sensors can pick up non-target intrusions (e.g., small animals, landslides, heavy trains) which may lead to false positives or fatigue in response.
    • Integration with operational response: Having alerts is one thing; the system’s effectiveness depends on how quickly trains can be slowed/stopped and staff/locos respond.
    • Cost and scale: Rolling out across thousands of route km in India’s forested zones is cost-intensive and logistically complex.
    • Data & monitoring: Continuous monitoring, data collection for animal movement patterns, maintenance of sensing lines and periodic audits are needed for sustainable use.