Eight elephants were killed early Saturday when a Delhi-bound passenger train hit a herd in the northeastern Indian state of Assam, railway authorities said.
The crash happened at around 2.17 am local time in Assam’s Hojai district at a site not designated as an elephant corridor, local officials added.
The impact caused the locomotive and five coaches of the Rajdhani Express to derail, although no passengers were injured, officials said.
The train driver applied emergency brakes after spotting the herd, but the collision could not be avoided as the elephants moved towards the tracks, the North East Frontier Railway (NFR) said in a statement.
India’s public radio broadcaster Akashvani said heavy fog in the area may have also contributed to the accident.
The derailment and the presence of elephant carcasses on the tracks disrupted rail services in parts of Assam and North East India. Passengers from the affected coaches were temporarily accommodated in vacant berths in other coaches, the officials added.
“The scheduled trains passing through that section are being diverted through another line. Restoration works are underway,” NFR said.
“Rescue teams are present at the site. The Rajdhani Express coaches have been attached to another engine, and have left the station now,” said district superintendent of police VV Rakesh Reddy, according to The Indian Express.
The incident once again highlighted India’s long-standing human-wildlife conflict, particularly train-elephant collisions.
India’s Environment Ministry told parliament earlier this year that around 80 wild elephants were killed across the country after being hit by trains between 2020-21 and 2024-25.
Among them were three elephants, including a mother and a calf, killed in July when a speeding train hit a herd near Paschim Midnapore district in the eastern state of West Bengal.
The problem is especially acute in Northeast India, where dozens of elephants are killed every year in train crashes.
After the July incident, authorities described the deaths as part of a recurring trend and said the environment and railways ministries were working to prevent such incidents. Measures include speed restrictions in sensitive areas and the use of seismic sensors to detect elephants near tracks.
In some regions, including Tamil Nadu in southern India, forest and railway officials have also begun piloting AI-based detection systems and sensor networks designed to spot elephants and alert train drivers to slow down.