The railways will use the LiDAR technique with laser-enabled equipment mounted on a helicopter for conducting ground survey for the Delhi-Varanasi high speed rail corridor, the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited said on Monday. The development comes after the Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technique was successfully used in the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project for the first time.
LiDAR technology provides high quality data in digital form in a short time. This data can be used in many projects related to roads, canals, surface transport, city planning, landslides, irrigation among others.
“The National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) will be adopting LiDAR technique using laser enabled equipment mounted on a helicopter for conducting ground survey for the preparation of Detailed Project Report for the proposed Delhi-Varanasi HSR corridor.
“The alignment or ground survey is a crucial activity for any linear infrastructure project as the survey provides accurate details of areas around the alignment. This technique uses a combination of laser data, GPS data, flight parameters and actual photographs to give accurate survey data,” NHSRCL said in a statement.
Based on the findings of the survey, designing of the vertical and horizontal alignment, structures, location of the stations and depots, land requirement for the corridor, identification of project affected plots or structures will be decided.
“The aerial LiDAR survey technique, for the first time for any railway project in India, was adopted for the Mumbai- Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Corridor primarily because of its high accuracy. The ground survey using aerial LiDAR for MAHSR alignment was done only in 12 weeks against the 10-12 months if had been done through traditional survey methods,” the statement said.
The ground survey using aerial LiDAR technique has already started on the project with the reference points on the ground already marked and data collection through equipment mounted on a helicopter will commence from December 13, depending on the weather conditions in a phased manner.
The requisite permissions from the Ministry of Defence for flying the helicopter have been received and the inspection of the aircraft and equipment are underway, it said.
The proposed Delhi-Varanasi HSR alignment covers mixed terrains, including densely populated urban and rural areas, highways, roads, ghats, rivers and green fields.
The tentative length of the corridor is about 800 km, the alignment and stations will be decided in consultation with the government.
The corridor will connect the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi with major cities like Mathura, Agra, Etawah, Lucknow, Raebareli, Prayagraj, Bhadohi, Varanasi and Ayodhya.
The main corridor from Delhi to Varanasi will also be connected to Ayodhya and the route will connect the upcoming international airport at Jewar in Gautam Buddha Nagar District of Uttar Pradesh.
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