To protect the Asiatic lions in the Gir Forest, the Indian Railways has altered the schedules of ten trains operating in and around the Gir Forest. The Western Railway has announced the suspension of night train operations on the Kasiya Ness-Sasan and Junagadh-Bilkha sections. This decision was made following a...
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Gujarat High Court directive aimed at preventing lion-train collisions. The altered train schedules involve trains running between Veraval-Delwada, Delwada-Junagadh, Amreli and Veraval, Amreli and Junagadh, and Veraval-Amreli. The Western Railway stated in a press release that these trains connect the districts of Amreli, Junagadh, and Gir Somnath in Gujarat. The High Court issued the directive due to an alarming rise in lion deaths caused by train collisions. In the past decade, around a dozen lions have been killed in train accidents, with seven of them killed on the track between July 21, 2023 and January 22, 2024. In response to the directive, the Railways agreed to reduce train speeds to 40 kilometers per hour at night in seven hotspots along the Pipavav-Surendranagar rail line. In addition, the Railways have reported that their locomotive pilots saved 65 lions in the current financial year by applying emergency brakes and stopping trains upon observing lion activity around the tracks.