Eco-sensitive railway infrastructure is a design approach integrating transportation networks with biodiversity conservation, wildlife mobility, and ecosystem preservation.
In Southeast Asia, where railways often cut through biodiverse landscapes, this approach involves designing railway embankments and passages that allow wildlife corridors to remain intact, ensuring safe passage for species such as elephants, tigers, and deer. Eco-sensitive designs include grassways protecting pollinators, vegetated overpasses, culverts, and tunnel crossings that accommodate both large mammals and smaller fauna like amphibians and reptiles.
These features can be combined with native plant species, such as bamboo, mangroves, and grasses, to restore soil composition, enhance carbon sequestration, and improve local biodiversity along the tracks. Such infrastructure also minimizes soil erosion, reduces flooding by maintaining natural water flow, and stabilizes embankments during heavy rains, enhancing climate resilience.
Beyond ecological benefits, it improves human safety by reducing wildlife-vehicle collisions and supports community livelihoods by preserving the natural resources surrounding railway corridors. Existing lessons from projects in India’s Western Ghats and Thailand’s Khao Yai National Park highlight the importance of participatory planning with local communities and conservation experts to balance infrastructure development with ecological integrity.
