An unsuspecting wild Asiatic elephant that had strayed onto a railway track was mowed down by a speeding passenger train in Assam, officials said Monday. 

A railway official said the accident took place Sunday near Patharkhula village in eastern Assam, about 160 km from the state's main city of Guwahati. 

"The Kamrup Express was travelling at a high speed when an adult elephant came on the track. The animal was sliced into two pieces and died almost instantly," B. Das, a railway official said.

The impact was so severe that the train's engine derailed. The train was bound for Guwahati when the accident took place.

"The driver of the train sustained injuries in his hands and legs, although passengers were safe," the official said.

Railway workers took about 10 hours to repair the track and restore inter-state train communication. A local police official said soon after the accident, a herd of about four wild elephants arrived at the spot and prevented anyone from coming near the dead animal's body lying in a pool of blood. 

"We had to chase the elephant herd with firecrackers and drumbeats to enable railway workers to carry out repair work of the track," the official said. 

Elephant herds often stray out of their habitats for food and enter human settlement areas in Assam resulting in several such accidents. At least a dozen elephants have been killed in Assam by speeding trains in the past three years, a wildlife official said.

Experts say wild elephants have been moving out of the jungles with people encroaching upon animal corridors.

"The man-elephant conflict has assumed a frightening proportion as in the last five years elephants have killed at least 150 people. Angry villagers, in turn, have killed up to 200 of the animals," the official said.

There are an estimated 5,500 wild elephants in Assam out of India's total pachyderm population of 10,000.