A coal-laden goods train on the Ranchi-Koderma line halted in Jharkhand for over two hours earlier this week to allow a pregnant elephant to give birth on the railway tracks.
The pause in operations, between Barkakana and Hazaribag stations, under the jurisdiction of the Eastern Central Railways drew praise as an instance of coordinated human-wildlife coexistence.
Forest officials and railway personnel acted after being alerted about the elephant in labour on the forested tracks. Train movement was suspended to ensure the safety of both the animal and her calf.
Local residents and forest department staff provided support on the ground as the elephant delivered. Forest officials later confirmed that both the mother and newborn were in good health.
“Beyond the news of human-animal conflicts, happy to share this example of human-animal harmonious existence,” Union minister for environment, forest and climate change, Bhupendra Yadav shared the video and wrote on X. “A train in Jharkhand waited for two hours as an elephant delivered her calf. The video shows how the two later walked on happily.”
The minister highlighted coordinated efforts between the environment and railway ministries to address such encounters. “Following a whole-of-government approach, @MOEFCC and @RailMinIndia have identified more than 110 sensitive spots by surveying 3,500 km of railway tracks in the country. It is lovely to see the efforts producing such heart-warming results.”
“Special kudos to @JharkhandVan officials for their sensitivity which helped the elephant deliver her young one,” he added.
With railway lines cutting through forested elephant corridors in eastern and central India, collisions and conflict are recurring concerns.
Jharkhand has reported 474 human fatalities related to such conflicts in the past five years, second only to Odisha, according to data shared by former Union junior minister for environment, forest and climate change, Kriti Vardhan Singh, in the Lok Sabha during the Budget session.