Indian Railways Deploys AI Intrusion Detection System To Prevent Elephant Collisions

AI Intrusion in Indian Railways: Technological improvements in Indian Railways (IR) are a continuous process. There are several Artificial Intelligence-based predictive maintenance applications, the Ministry of Railways said in a press release.

Pilot initiatives involving AI-driven predictive maintenance of the Signalling system are being undertaken over Indian Railways at some of the stations to evaluate its efficacy. Measurable outcomes include Standard Failure and Prediction Logics, and the Alerts mechanism to be derived from trial results at these stations.

An artificial intelligence (AI) enabled Intrusion Detection System (IDS) using a Distributed Acoustic System (DAS) for detecting the presence of elephants on Railway tracks is implemented in the 141 RKms section on NF Railway, and further tenders have been awarded for the 981 RKms section of Indian Railways.

The system is designed to generate alerts for loco pilots, station masters and the Control Room about the movement of elephants in proximity of railway tracks, for taking timely preventive action. IR has adopted advanced/improved technologies like Online Monitoring of Rolling Stock System (OMRS), Wheel Impact Load Detector (WILD) for predictive maintenance of Rolling stock.

A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between IR and Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL) in July 2025 for the induction of the Wayside Machine Vision-based Inspection System (MVIS). This is an AI/ML-driven system for detecting hanging parts or missing components in moving trains.

A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between IR and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to induct the Automatic Wheel Profile Measurement System (AWPMS). The AWPMS allows for automatic non-contact measurement of train wheel profile, ensuring real-time measurement of wheel geometry and wear.

This information was provided by the Union Minister for Railways, Information & Broadcasting and Electronics & Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw, in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on Friday.

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