son.Elephants missed the train by inches while crossing the tracks in a forest in Thailand.

These startling images show an elephant escaping when it was hit in the beard by a train – as it crosses the tracks dangerously close to an oncoming train.

The image, taken by wildlife photographer Rupak Dastidar, shows endangered elephants in the Indian jungles after a train line was built to cut straight through the forest.

Dozens of elephants are killed each year after being hit by a train – which resulted in a speed limit being introduced for trains to save the elephants’ lives.

An elephant crosses the train tracks in an Indian forest just moments after a train rushed along

A group of elephants in the Indian forest congregates around the tracks as the train approaches

An elephant calf follows its mother over the tracks in an Indian forest

Rupak, 29, said: ‘The railway track turned out to be a graveyard for wild elephants with more than 90 of them being killed since the conversion took place.

‘The trails pass through a few national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, and reserved forests that feature numerous corridors of wild animals such as the Indian Elephant and the Indian Gaur.

‘The frequency of accidents along routes of Alipurduar and New Jalpaiguri lines has led forestry and railway officials to try to come up with a solution, cutting train speeds to 50km/h during the day and just 25 km/h at night.