Drones will survey progress for Railway project

Indian Railways, for the first time, used drones to inspecting a mega rail project and assess the progress on the ground. These drones, unmanned flying machines, will now be used to monitor other under-construction schemes too.

At this instance, the drone was used to check the ongoing work of the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) project and, as per the plan, all ongoing projects will be monitored through aerial survey.

The Indian Railways has also decided to use drones to assess the ground situation in the aftermath of train accidents.

A drone is essentially a flying robot which can be remotely handled through software-controlled flight plans embedded in its systems working in conjunction with GPS. A camera mounted on the drone can capture pictures and videos.

"We used a drone to ascertain the progress on the 42 km long track between Baghega to Srimadhopur in Rajasthan in the Western DFC and also the 56 km long line between Durgawati and Sasaram in Bihar," DFC Managing Director Adesh Sharma said.

The drone was used for three days on a trial basis to cover the total 98 km on the DFC. The status report was prepared after the analysis of video recordings.

"It becomes easier and faster to prepare the status report of an ongoing project through drone. Field work can be monitored from the office using the drone footage," said Sharma.

The drone was hired from a private operator and it cost ₹3,000 per km for undertaking the aerial survey.

Currently about 170 projects, including doubling and laying of new lines, are being executed by railways.

Drones will now be used to assess actual physical progress of these projects, sources said.

As far as DFC is concerned, the Durgawati-Sasaram section is complete now and awaiting safety clearance before being commissioned.