On the 20th December 2025, eight elephants were killed in India, including a newborn calf. The culprit? Not a poacher, but a high-speed train. Collisions with oncoming trains are the second-highest cause of unnatural elephant deaths in the country, as per the Guardian. As urban cities increase their connection routes, more and more train lines are passing through elephant habitats. With more than 200 elephants killed by trains in the last 10 years (according to Indian government data), this expansion is proving deadly for already endangered Asian elephants.
In Coimbatore, a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, 11 elephants are known to have been killed by trains since 2008. Coimbatore facilitates 148 unique train routes per week: a lot of opportunities for trains and elephants to collide. But the Tamil Nadu Forest Department has developed a solution: an AI-powered surveillance system that spots elephants as they cross train tracks and gives drivers an advanced warning to stop.
Night vision cameras detect elephants crossing
The system comprises thermal night vision cameras installed on 12 towers surrounding the train tracks in the forest. The cameras can view visuals up to 900 metres. This data is then transmitted to staff working in the control room, who inform train drivers of crossing elephants via SMS messages, alerts or phone calls. Digital alerts are also displayed on the train tracks.
The surveillance system is proving a success, with no elephant deaths—and 6592 safe crossings—since November 2023. Chief Secretary of Environment, Climate Change and Forests Supriya Sahu said of the surveillance: “[It’s] a milestone in our conservation journey for saving precious elephants.” As well as reducing the immediate threat to elephant lives, the surveillance system also provides conservationists with useful data on elephants’ movement and behaviour.
It’s not just trains threatening elephant lives
Beyond the threat of trains, Asian elephants are also facing extinction at the hands of climate change. Elephants’ habitats, food sources and behavioural patterns are affected by extreme weather events such as droughts, wildfires, floods and temperature changes. In the first nine months of 2025, India endured extreme weather 99 percent of the time, from heatwaves to lightning to landslides. Meanwhile, February 2025 was the warmest on record in the country in 124 years. While protecting elephants from train collisions is one way to halt extinction in its tracks, we must also reduce our impact on the climate to save elephants’ lives.
