How Gujarat is using AI to save lions from railway accident
The High-Level Committee was told that optical-fibre cables had already been laid in the Savarkundla and Liliya areas to detect movement signatures of lions.
5 min readVadodaraUpdated: Aug 19, 2026 07:20 PM IST
CCTV surveillance, fitting LED lights on trains and laying Optic Fibre cables to detect lion movement along the railway tracks. (Source: Special Arrangement)
A lion stepping onto a railway track in Saurashtra once meant a race against time: A tracker raising an alarm, a train slowing down and the animal being coaxed away from the tracks. After 19 lions were fatally hit by trains between 2014 and 2024, the Gujarat government has deployed technology alongside traditional safeguards and diverted lions 6682 times from railway tracks running through the Asiatic Lion landscape spread majorly over Junagadh, Gir-Somnath, Amreli and Porbandar districts.
The experiment has also ensured that no lion was killed by a train in the August 2024-May 2026 period.
The detail is part of an affidavit by Conservator of Forest, Junagadh, Ram Ratan Nala before the Gujarat High Court as part of a suo motu Public Interest Litigation.
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As per the compliance report, apart from deploying 70 railway trackers, clearing 14.23 hectares of vegetation, installing watch towers, underpasses and effecting speed restrictions, the government has put in place an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) that includes Artificial Intelligence-based monitoring, CCTV surveillance, fitting LED lights on trains and laying Optic Fibre cables to detect lion movement along the railway tracks. The fibre optic sensing cables have been laid along the Liliya-Savarkundla section in Amreli district.
In an order dated July 31, 2026 (uploaded August 10), a Bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice D N Ray perused the affidavit dated July 30 filed by the Junagadh CF Dr Ram Ratan Nala, through Additional Advocate General Manisha Luvkumar, in compliance with the June 12 HC order in the PIL concerning deaths of Gir lions caused by railway accidents. Nala is a member of the High-Level Committee directed by the HC to examine the incidents and prevent them.
A lone lion hit in 2025
For years, railway tracks cutting through Saurashtra’s lion country were a deadly collision point between India’s fastest-growing lion population and its expanding transport network. But the court-monitored safety system is producing a striking reversal as the Asiatic lions expand beyond the traditional confines of the Gir landscape.
The state government’s submission notes an incident on November 14, 2025, when a train hit a year-old cub between the Vadiya-Haveli and Vavdi stations. It suffered fractures and was taken to Sakkarbaug zoo where it recovered.
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As per the latest operational figures: Between April and July 2026, 33.4 km of vegetation had been cleared, 1,104 lion-diversion operations undertaken, 70 railway trackers deployed and 1,356 caution orders issued. Around 100 wildlife-movement hotspots had been identified. Fourteen railway underpasses had been assessed as requiring retrofitting, 13 new underpasses proposed, while 62 underpasses were assessed to be in good condition. Three training programmes had also been conducted for railway personnel.
The broader compliance report placed before the court records 6,682 lions diverted from railway tracks and 1,148 other animals diverted under the safety regime. It lists nine permanent hotspots, 14.23 hectares of vegetation clearance, 66 signages, 26 watchtowers and 5,909 caution orders. Three loco-pilot training sessions had trained 136 loco pilots, while five joint inspections had been conducted between 2024 and 2026.
A layer of technology
The affidavit states that the latest, eighth meeting reviewed the status of mitigation measures, including improving the usability of wildlife underpasses, expediting railway safety measures, construction of underpasses, installation of twin LED headlights in locomotives and trials of the Intrusion Detection System (IDS). The committee also directed the adoption of AI-based monitoring, early warning systems and CCTV camera-based surveillance to enhance detection of lion movement and strengthen measures to prevent railway accidents.
The affidavit also states that the AI component is similarly still evolving. The SOP provides for AI-powered cameras with software and hardware at hotspot areas for early detection of lions near railway tracks and for raising alarms to loco pilots. Earlier committee deliberations had also recorded that the process of generating an AI “signature” for lions was underway.
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The High-Level Committee was told that optical-fibre cables had already been laid in the Savarkundla and Liliya areas to detect movement signatures of lions. A more specific deployment involved a 6-core OFC cable laid in a zigzag pattern in the Liliya-Savarkundla section, an area identified for frequent lion movement.
The affidavit, however, stated that the committee recorded that “the current software accuracy requires improvement”, while the feasibility of laying additional fibre cables in forest areas was to be examined in coordination with the Forest Department. The SOP states that IDS technology will be “implemented in phased manner after proof of concept by Western Railway”, subject to railway sanction.
The affidavit describes this as trackside AI and surveillance technology, not an AI system installed inside locomotives. The trains have a separate technological upgrade– the affidavit records that locomotives operating in hotspot areas have been equipped with twin-beam headlights, while Western Railway has reported conversion of 559 of 917 locomotives to LED headlights, with the remaining 358 under conversion.
The HC has now posted the matter on September 11, to “bring before us the status of completion of retrofitting of underpasses… impact of the measures taken by the Railways to avoid railway accidents, such as twin LED headlights in locomotives and the trials of Intrusion Detection Device System shall also be placed on record. The progress made in the matter of adoption of AI-based monitoring…”
Aditi Raja is an Assistant Editor with The Indian Express, stationed in Vadodara, Gujarat, with over 20 years in the field. She has been reporting from the region of Central Gujarat and Narmada district for this newspaper since 2013, which establishes her as a highly Authoritative and Trustworthy source on regional politics, administration, and critical socio-economic and environmental issues.
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