The Indian Railways is all set to use the state-of-the-art LIDAR technology for working on the country’s first high-speed train corridor between Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
What is LiDAR?
LiDAR or Light Detection and Ranging is an advanced technology that is used for providing accurate data on contours of land and below vegetation. The use of LiDAR will help in faster completion of the aerial survey on this route. It is estimated that the project will be completed in almost 9 to 10 weeks against the usual 6 to 8 months and in turn will help in starting the groundwork for Narendra Modi’s dream project for 2018.
As per the plan, the entire stretch will be on an elevated track with the exception of a 21 km underground area. The survey will be carried out by a helicopter carrying the necessary equipment including a laser scanner, a data recorder and a high-res digital camera.
Some Interesting Tidbits
As the survey is extremely useful in generating accurate data, the concerned officials will be taking the permission of DGCA and the Defence Ministry. The project is estimated at around INR 97,636 crore and nearly 81 percent of the total funding is expected to come as a loan from Japan.
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The total flying time for covering the full corridor will be 30 hours. The preparatory work and time taken in processing of data is quite high, but still the process allows the survey of the full 508 km in 9-10 weeks instead of 6-8 months,” Mukul Mathur, executive director (PPP), railway board, said. The exercise is highly accurate and enables capturing data of buildings and forest,” Mathur said, adding that this technology would be used for the survey of a rail line for the first time. For the survey, the helicopter will fly at a height of 500 metres while identifying 15.6 points per square metre.
