106 reindeer killed in Norway railway bloodbaths

More than 100 reindeer have been killed in four days on Norway’s railway tracks, in an “unprecedented” spate of collisions with high-speed freight trains.

Since Wednesday, 106 reindeer have died crossing a stretch of track in the Helgeland region of northern Norway during their annual migration from their summer habitat in the mountains to warmer pastures near the coast.

Saturday was the bloodiest day so far, with 65 reindeer killed in a single collision, district lead herder Torstein Appfjell told state broadcaster NRK.

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Train operator Bane Nor had assured the landowner that trains would travel at a reduced speed when notified of reindeer on the line, Aftenposten reports, but a “technical failure” meant that drivers did not receive warnings sent on by herders.

“The message was added to the system. Unfortunately, this message never reached the train due to a technical failure,” Bane Nor regional director Thor Brækkan told NKR.

“When it was discovered that the message had disappeared, they tried to call the train. Unfortunately, it was too late.”

Bane Nor says it has now cut the speed of their trains in the area. However, for local herders, the damage has been done.

"This is a tragedy for me and the three other herders,” Appfjell told Aftenposten. “[The reindeer] mean almost everything to us.”

Dozens of reindeer are killed in collisions with trains every year, but Appfjell said the scale of the slaughter during the past four days had been “unprecedented”.

Another herder who has lost part of his herd, Ole Henrik Kappfjell, said he was “dizzy with anger”. The herders are calling for a fence to be erected along the deadly stretch of track to prevent further bloodbaths.