AI May Be the Secret to Saving South Asia’s Elephants

Less than an hour shy of midnight on February 19, 2025, passengers aboard the Meenagaya Express train between Colombo and Batticaloa came to a jarring halt and two compartments derailed. Officials announced that no passengers had died, but there were meaningful casualties. The train had hit and killed five elephants instantly; two more died after succumbing to injuries. Among the seven deaths, four were children. It was the most fatal railway accident for elephants ever recorded in Sri Lanka. 

Following the incident, the railway changed the Meenagaya’s schedule and imposed speed limits. They also began clearing underbrush around tracks to increase conductors’ visibility. But three months later, the same train collided with an elephant just hours before dawn. Once again, the train derailed and no passengers died. The elephant wasn’t as lucky. 

Sri Lankan and Indian railways have been the site of hundreds of lethal accidents between elephants and trains over the past decades. The situation has presented a dilemma: how can train travel be safe for both humans and one of the subcontinent’s most revered animals? Increasingly, the answer is technology and, more specifically, AI.