A passenger train hit and killed a lioness near Khambhalia village in Visavadar taluka of Junagadh district around 12:30 pm on Saturday, November 14. She died on the spot, on the metre-gauge line that runs from Junagadh towards Visavadar, Dhari and Chalala, DeshGujarat reported.
The spot is close to the Ozat river bridge. Gujarat Samachar put the lioness’s age at eight and reported that she had been chasing a herd of sheep and goats when she stepped onto the track. Train movement on the section stopped for about an hour while forest and railway staff cleared the line.
Forest staff drew up a panchnama at the site, began legal proceedings and sent the carcass to the Animal Care Centre for a post-mortem, DeshGujarat reported. Neither outlet named the train or gave its speed at the time.
A quiet metre-gauge line, until now
Gujarat Samachar described this as the first recorded lion death on the Junagadh-Visavadar corridor. It credited low train frequency and strict speed limits for the clean record so far. Lion deaths on tracks in the Gir region have mostly happened on broad-gauge freight routes in neighbouring Amreli district, such as the line serving Pipavav port through Rajula and Savarkundla.
Those Amreli deaths reached the Gujarat High Court. In April 2024, after two lions were hit by trains that January, a bench led by Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal criticised the forest department and the Railways for slow action, the Free Press Journal reported. The SOP placed before the court proposed a 40 km/h limit on the broad-gauge stretches from Pipavav to Surendranagar and from Mahuva to Rajula, and no train movement at night in forest areas. The court told the authorities to implement it at once.
Lion numbers are rising around Girnar
Gujarat Samachar noted that the lion population is growing in the Girnar sanctuary and the wider Greater Gir landscape, which Junagadh district sits in. More lions in farm belts means more crossings of roads and rail lines. In Saturday’s case, the lioness was chasing livestock near a river bridge when the train reached her.
The same district has seen other wildlife conflict this season. Last week we reported on a leopard attack in Mendarda taluka, the third there in 45 days.
Conservationists have asked the forest department to post more wildlife trackers along the metre-gauge stretch, Gujarat Samachar reported. The department has not announced any new step for the line so far. Its staff already patrol the area round the clock, according to DeshGujarat, and the post-mortem report is the next official record due on the case.
Sources: DeshGujarat, Gujarat Samachar, Free Press Journal
This report was written with AI assistance from the publicly reported sources linked here; each fact was cross-checked against at least two of them.