West Japan Railway Company and Suma Aqua life Park in Kobe, Japan have jointly developed a system to prevent turtles from getting caught between railway switches. Through different study they found out that turtles trying to cross the tracks fall into the space between them, they have no other choice but to walk between the rails, leading them to get stuck at the junctions. The turtles get squashed disrupting train service when the point blades move not only that sometimes they are killed. To help those stuck turtle, Japan Railway (JR) west has built five U-shaped concrete ditches under the tracks close to the switch points.
    They check the ditches during their monthly track check rescue any turtles and send any that have fallen into ditch to the aquarium. The ditches were built at two stations in Nara Prefecture in April and November and a total of 10 turtles were saved from death. ?The system prevents turtles from getting into accidents and avoids causing trouble for our passengers. We hope to continue using it,said a JR West official.

      This initiative of the Railway Company and Aqua Life Park not only has helped in avoiding the disruptions due to the turtles but also has helped in saving the life of those turtles. This is an good example of how development should go, hand in hand with biodiversity conservation.

Source:- Japan Times