At least seven elephants were killed and one injured after the Sairang–New Delhi Rajdhani Express rammed into a herd in Assam’s Hojai district during the early hours of Saturday. The incident occurred around 2:17 am in the Changjurai area, reportedly amid dense fog, according to forest officials. The impact led to the derailment of the locomotive and five coaches of Train No. 20507, though no passengers were injured, officials from Northeast Frontier Railway confirmed. Initial reports suggested eight elephant deaths, but authorities later clarified that one animal survived with injuries and is undergoing treatment.
Forest officials, led by Nagaon Divisional Forest Officer Suhash Kadam, reached the site soon after the accident. Autopsies of the seven dead elephants are currently underway, while veterinary doctors are treating the injured jumbo. Officials said cremation of the carcasses would be carried out near the accident site following legal formalities. Due to the derailment, train movement on the Jamunamukh–Kampur section was disrupted, prompting authorities to divert other trains via the UP line. Restoration work on the damaged track and coaches is in progress, and passengers from the affected coaches have been temporarily accommodated in vacant berths of other coaches.
The tragic incident has once again drawn attention to the frequent overlap between railway tracks and elephant migratory corridors in India. Last year, the All India Loco Running Staff Association highlighted the technical limitations faced by train drivers, noting that even with emergency braking, a fully loaded train requires at least 1.6 kilometres to come to a complete halt. The association has urged authorities to focus on systemic preventive measures, such as constructing subways and deploying AI-based Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) to alert rail officials about animal movement near tracks. Experts say reliance on traditional methods like whistling and braking has proven ineffective, underlining the urgent need for long-term solutions to prevent such fatal human–wildlife conflicts.
