The crossing of a herd of around 90 elephants, mostly calves, prompted the Dibrugarh-Delhi Rajdhani Express to stop nearly 2km from Habaipur railway station on Wednesday. The elephant herd was returning from West Karbu Anglong to Lumding Reserve Forest.
Lanka forest range officer Manik Baruah reported to TOI that the forest personnel spotted the herd about 2 km from Habaipur station, towards the Guwahati end, at around 4.30-5 am, when they were on the way to Mylo as part of their routine duty.
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"We immediately informed the railways, but learnt that the Rajdhani Express was approaching from the Dibrugarh side towards Guwahati. We divided the team into two. One team, led by forester-I Sashanka Roy, went to the spot and stopped Rajdhani, while the second team, led by me, took position about 100 metres away to stop any train approaching from the Guwahati end," Baruah told TOI.
