This solution is an avoidance solution, which allows us both to satisfy conditions of safety and regularity and also to preserve biodiversity."Despite the effectiveness of the tests, SNCF Réseau focuses mainly on the preventive treatment of vegetation along the track, to reduce the number of shrubs and thickets where wild boars take shelter.
To combat this phenomenon, SNCF Réseau, the railway infrastructure manager, is currently testing a device called Blue Sentinel, a system of sound and light warnings which are triggered before trains pass and scare off animals.
It is being tested in particular on portions of the Paris-Nantes line: in Oudon, in Loire-Atlantique, five kilometers of tracks along the Loire have been equipped.
The site for installing the beacons was not chosen at random: in the direct vicinity of an island on the Loire, which serves as a refuge for many animals.
A figure which convinced SNCF Réseau to deploy the system in five other regions.
As for ElanRail, the company hopes to soon be able to sell its Blue Sentinel system to other countries facing the same problems on their rail networks.