Work on Varanasi-Delhi bullet train project gains momentum

New Delhi, Jan 11 : Over three years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of India’s first 508-km Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail corridor, the work on the second such rail corridor in the country — on the Delhi-Varanasi route — has gained momentum.
An aerial LiDAR survey of the 800-km Delhi-Varanasi High-Speed Rail (DVHSR) corridor has now been undertaken by the Railways as part of the project to connect Modi’s parliamentary constituency with the national capital through the bullet train.
On Sunday, the National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) launched the LiDAR survey for the Delhi-Varanasi route from Uttar Pradesh’s Greater Noida, wherein a helicopter fitted with state-of-the-art aerial LiDAR and imagery sensors will capture data related to the ground survey along the proposed route.
NHSRCL spokesperson Sushma Gaur said that the light detection and ranging survey (LiDAR) technology helps gather all ground details and data in three to four months as against normal time period of 10-12 months through the traditional method.
She said that the ground survey is a crucial activity for any linear infrastructure project as it provides accurate details of the geographical areas around the proposed railroad alignment. “This technique uses a combination of laser and GPS data, flight parameters and actual photographs to give an accurate survey data,” she said.
Gaur said that the LiDAR survey will capture data of 300 metres (150 metres on either side) of the proposed railroad alignment area. Thereafter, three-dimensional (3D) topographical map of 50-metre corridor on either side of the proposed alignment on a scale of 1:2500 will be made available to design vertical and horizontal alignments, structures, location of stations and depots, land requirement for corridor, and identification of project-affected plots/structures, and right of way etc.