Plan Bee | 10 Jul 2019

Plan Bee, a unique strategy adopted by Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) to keep wild elephants away from railway tracks, has won the best innovation award by Indian Railways.

• Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR)'s Plan Bee, involves setting up of devices (an amplifying system imitating the buzz of a swarm of honey bees) near tracks, which emit the ‘buzzing’ sound of swarming bees, considered as a natural repellent of elephants (elephants have a natural fear of the perilous stings of the insects).
  
  • First one was installed near the Guwahati railway station.
• The sound is audible to elephants 600-700 meters away and thus helps them in keeping away from the tracks.
• According to wildlife experts, India has the highest number of train accidents involving elephants in the world.