Kolkata, May 14 (IANS): To help drivers spot elephants and avoid accidents, the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR)'s Alipurduar Division in West Bengal will soon begin field trials of night vision cameras installed in locomotives, an official said on Saturday.

"The division has undertaken a project for installation of night vision cameras in the locomotives in collaboration with Defence Research and Developments Organisation's (DRDO) laboratory at Dehradun. 

"A prototype has been developed and tested under laboratory conditions. Soon, field trials would be conducted on these night vision cameras," said NFR chief public relations officer Pranav Jyoti Sharma.

If the trials are successful, these cameras will greatly help locomotive drivers in spotting elephants, especially in Alipurduar-New Mal Junction-Siliguri section of the division, he said.

The rail route passes through several wildlife sanctuaries such as Mahananda Widlife Sanctuary, Buxa Tiger Reserve and Chapramari wildlife sanctuary - and witnesses frequent deaths of jumbos due to collision with speeding trains.