NF Railway is using drones (unmanned aerial vehicles) for the detailed inspection of bridges in a bid to upgrade work performance.
Officials at NF Railway informed that rugged terrains of Assam have a number of bridges with various types of geographic features. The detailed inspection of bridges often turns out to be a difficult task due to the continuous movement of traffic.
However, inspection by drone mounted cameras would make the otherwise inaccessible areas to be examined in detail easy.
NF Railway plans to technologically advance its method of inspection of bridges easy.
Meanwhile, the survey of two Major Bridges (Br. No. 91, span-3×30.5m and Br. No. 93, span-6×45.7m) on Guwahati-Lumding section was completed using the unmanned aerial vehicles.
A drone based inspection of 28 major bridge are to be done including the Saraighat bridge, Naranarayan Setu and the Dayang bridge of Lumding-Badarpur hill section, according to NFR officials.
NFR has also started the under-water inspection of major and important bridges in which experienced divers are being utilized along with special equipment to evaluate the structural foundations of the bridges.