Stray Cattle Disrupt Schedule Of 990 Trains This Year

The stray cattle menace has adversely affected the train running schedule as the Railways witnessed more than 13,000 cattle run over incidents till June end across the country with maximum cases in Northern and Northern Central zones.

According to the data, there were a total of 13,179 cattle run over cases reported on the rail tracks till June end this year.

Since the rail tracks are not fenced off at many places, cows, buffaloes and bulls have free run on the tracks.

While the running schedule of 2,115 trains were disrupted in the financial year of 2021-22 due to cattle run over cases, 990 trains got affected during April-June this year owing to the cattle menace.

There is a significant number of stray cattle found wandering onto rail tracks and coming under speeding trains, according to the Railways. Cows are roaming in the open because there is no buyer and many cow shelters are not operational.

Since stray cattle are also destroying crops, farmers chase them out of their fields. Railway lines are near fields, and the cattle go to open areas near the railway lines; some, unfortunately, come under a train.

The cattle run over (CRO) cases not only affect train operation, many passenger and freight services get delayed due to such incidents.

While the number of general train accidents has been declining over the last few years, the significant jump in CRO cases has become a cause of worry for safe train operations.

The Railways has tried to fence off the track with concrete wall or barbed wire in areas that run through residential and semi-residential zones.

In order to curb accidents, the Railways has eliminated all unmanned level crossings, the major reason for the train mishaps and human casualties.

However, trains running over cattle can be stopped with fencing off the track. The stray cattle menace has emerged in a big way after the collapse of the local cattle markets, curbs in transportation of cattle, shutting down of illegal slaughter houses and the policy of cow conservation.

The problem is more acute in North India as stray cattle enter fields and devour crops causing heavy financial loss to the farmers income.

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