AnimalAlert

AnimalAlert builds on previous results from the Wildlife Warning Projects 1 and 2 and is a collaborative project between researchers from Ruralis, NIBIO, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, EnviroPlanning and Soundscape. Bane NOR has been involved in the project since 2020 and has funded the earlier research together with the Norwegian Railway Directorate. This year, the research is funded by Bane NOR and Norske Tog, and the main activity involves installing a speaker system on selected trains and collecting data.

The project’s impact goal is to establish a scientific foundation for developing an innovative and flexible wildlife warning system that influences animals to move away from railway tracks when trains pass—without restricting their movement in the broader landscape. The long-term expected effects include:

• Economic savings
• Improved animal welfare
• Fewer delays and reduced use of resources for tracking, handling injured and dead animals
• Contributing to technological development related to wildlife collisions

The results of the experiments will verify which sounds are most suitable to use from the train, for which animals, and in which habitats. Other expected outcomes of the project include:

• Identifying the most effective sounds to generally deter animals from railway tracks
• Determining which sounds are most effective for specific animal species
• Developing and testing technical equipment that can be mounted on trains and used for this purpose
• Testing how such a technical system performs in Scandinavian climate and varied topography
• Improving knowledge about preventive measures against wildlife collisions