Rail lidar survey is an effective tool for inspection and assessment of railway infrastructure and track components. Rail lidar systems are mounted on cars or locomotives, allowing the user to collect data points along a railroad track. The resulting point cloud can be used to create a 3D model of the track, identify defects, and measure distances between objects.
Asset and track position
Advances in rail lidar technology are now making it possible to carry out dynamic surveys that can detect any changes in the position of assets or tracks.
Data on railway infrastructure
Rail lidar surveys provide accurate data on the geometry and condition of railway infrastructure.
Topographical survey
Rail lidar surveying has also been used to create detailed topographical surveys of areas affected by natural disasters, such as floods or landslides.
Vegetation analysis
Rail lidar surveys detect and map forests and other vegetation.
Ballast volume validation
Rail lidar surveying to measure the volume of ballast along a section of track and then compared those results with measurements taken from traditional surveying methods.
Ballast profiling
Rail lidar technology shows how much ballast can be saved by profiling the track bed.
Heights & staggers of electrified routes
Rail lidar survey has produced data on the height and stagger of electrified railway routes, which will help with future maintenance planning.
Digital Terrain Model
A rail lidar survey can provide a high-resolution digital terrain model (DTM) of the area that can be used to help with the planning and construction of new tracks.
