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full screen A new method with loudspeaker systems along the train tracks can lead to fewer wildlife accidents, researchers hope. Archive image. Photo: Fredrik Sandberg/TT
The guitar solo did not have the desired effect, but with a speaker system with human voices, the wild accidents were completely absent. Now researchers hope to be able to roll out the system on a broad front in rail traffic, reports TV4 Nyheterna.
Every year there are thousands of accidents between trains and animals. In addition to suffering, it costs society many billions of kroner in hospital, insurance and repair costs.
In recent years, the Swedish Transport Administration has tested a new and, according to TV4, world-unique method, which involves scaring away the animals along the tracks with the help of sound.
– At the passage, we have a thermal camera that detects the game and then a speaker system starts up. So if a moose enters the area, it is scared away from here, says Johan Rydlöv, an expert at the Swedish Transport Administration, to the channel.
After experimenting with guitar solos and high-pitched signals without the desired effect, the researchers who were involved in developing the method have arrived at what the animals perceive as the most threatening: a human voice or a loud farting sound.
There have been no wildlife accidents at the test site during just over a year where the method has been tested. Now the hope is to be able to roll out the system in more places in the country.