Trains to ply at 40 kmph at night to save lions from collision deaths on Pipavav-Surendranagar line

Counsel for the Railways, advocate Ramnandan Singh, informed the bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Aniruddha Mayee that the forest department and the Railways have framed a revised SOP, as per which the speed of locomotives will be below 40 kmph from sunset to sunrise in sections identified as hotspots of lion movement.

The new SOP will be applicable to an around 90-km long stretch of railway lines crossing Gir (east) wildlife division, Shetrunji wildlife division and Amreli social forestry division in Amreli district. The new restrictions will reduce speed of trains on Pipavav-Surendranagar railway line of Pipavav Railway Corporation Limited (PRCL) and Mahuva-Rajula line of Bhavnagar division of Western Railway from 90 kmph to less than 40 kmph.

The Pipava-Surendranagar railway track of PRCL is lifeline of Pipavav port on Rajula coast of Amreli and witnesses a few dozen trains, most of them goods trains, plying on it every day. “We defined areas that record a frequency of lion movements as lion hotspots and the Railways agreed to restrict the speed of trains to below 40 kmph during night to avoid collision with lions… There will be a caution order (CO) in place in these hotspots throughout the year,” a forest officer said.

“As these hotspots are interspersed along the entire stretch of 90 km of railway line in Amreli, the trains are unlikely to be able to gain the speed of 100 kmph in non-hotspot areas as well. The speed restriction, we are estimating, will eliminate chances of train-lion collision by 60 to 70 per cent,” the officer added.

Till now, the Railways used to issue COs to restrict the speed of trains to 45 kmph in specific stretches after receiving requests from the forest department following movement of lions.

Incidentally, train speed is restricted to 20 kmph on Visavadar-Talala section in Gir (west) wildlife division in Junagadh and Gir Somnath districts and no train operations are allowed during night.

Seven lions had died on being hit by trains between July 2023 and January 2024 on the Pipavav-Surendranagar section, which was significantly high given that nine had died on the railway tracks between April 2013 and March 2023.

CJ Agarwal expressed dissatisfaction at the need for court directions and interventions for the authorities to put their house in order.

Addressing Additional Advocate General Manisha Lavkumar Shah, representing the forest department, CJ Agarwal said, “Why do you need every time some inputs from court or interference to put your own house in order? For having a meeting to deliberate about the reason for the accidents, you did not need an order of this court, that should have been done at your own level without a word from us. It was only done when we intervened… If you did any inquiry, why did you not find a solution earlier? That means there was no application of mind.”

“You always need some interference from court, some sword hanging over your head and then you will work. We are not darogajis (guards), please don’t make us daroga for this. This is not done, not acceptable at all. It is the duty of the forest department to ensure that not a single animal is harmed by an outside element… Three accidents had occurred – two railway and one by car – only in the month of January and at that point of time, it did not occur to forest (department) that it should talk to Railways, they should sit together, they should find out solutions?”

“We can say this today that we were thinking of taking a suo motu action (when we learnt about the lion deaths), then we realised that the petition is already pending. Then we searched for the petition and got it listed to take cognisance of this matter. From January to April you did nothing… The solution which came in your mind today, why could you not find this solution earlier,” the CJ asked.

The HC, in its order, recorded that “when these accidents occurred in January 2024, the appropriate course of action of the forest and railway officials was to make an inquiry jointly or separately to ascertain the cause of death on the railway track and take corrective measures, which ought to have been done at their own ends without intervention” from the court.

It sought that the chief conservator of forest of Junagadh Wildlife Circle and the divisional railway manager of Western Railways, Bhavnagar Para, file personal affidavits responding to the court’s grievances. The court is set to hear the matter next on April 23.