Jharkhand train halts for 2 hours to let elephant safely deliver calf on tracks

Representative image

The railway and forest officials in Jharkhand’s Ramgarh stopped a coal-laden goods train for over two hours to allow a pregnant elephant to safely give birth on the tracks, The Times of India reported.

The incident happened on a forest stretch between Barkakana and Hazaribag railway stations, where the railway line is mostly used for transporting goods. No passenger trains were affected by the halt.

The event took place around 3 am, two weeks ago. Forest officials, who were monitoring the area, noticed that a female elephant in labour had lain down on the tracks. Concerned for the safety of both the mother and the unborn calf, they immediately contacted railway authorities.

Divisional forest officer (DFO), Ramgarh, Nitish Kumar confirmed videos of the incident which were clicked by a forest guard. The videos of the scene, recorded by forest guards and local residents, have now gone viral on social media, showing the mother elephant peacefully delivering her baby.

"At 3 am, our forest guard informed me that a pregnant female elephant is lying on the tracks with labour pain. He also warned that it might get run over by a train and requested me to stop all train movement along the route. I immediately contacted the railway control room in Barkakana and directed them to stop all trains, following which the movement of trains was stopped for two hours," TOI quoted DFO Nitish Kumar as saying.

Notably, Jharkhand has reported a staggering loss of 474 human lives in man-elephant conflicts during the past five years - second only to Odisha. Additionally, 30 elephants have died since 2019 due to electrocution and other causes, former Union minister of state for environment, forest and climate change, Kriti Vardhan Singh said in a written response in the Lok Sabha.