MC Exclusive I Railways floats Rs 3,200-cr tender for LiDAR system to enhance track safety

The Indian railways is facing a challenge as there have been multiple attempts to derail trains since June this year. Probes by railway officials have revealed suspected sabotages to cause derailments.

The Indian Railways has issued tenders of Rs 3,200 crore for installation of Light Detecting and Ranging (LiDAR) technology on trains and rail tracks.

The LiDAR technology will help detect fractures, faults, and missing sections on the tracks. It will create 3D models of railway tracks using images from sensors, reducing human involvement and accidents.

A senior official said the tenders are for installing LiDAR systems across 1,000 trains and 1,500 kilometers of tracks. The work is expected to be completed within 18 to 24 months.

LiDAR will also help the railway develop 3D models of tracks using images from sensors. The technology uses laser beams to map the tracks, identify obstacles, and measure distances. The sensors will be placed on moving trains and at fixed locations along the network to provide real-time data on track conditions. This data can help detect flaws quickly and send alerts to railway officials to prevent derailments and collisions.

"Presently, this is a manual work and installing this technology will reduce human involvement and reduce staff casualties which are common on such sections," a senior railway official said.

The decision to install the LiDAR technology follows several attempts at derailment of trains. In 2024 alone, there were 24 attempts to sabotage or manipulate tracks to derail trains. Investigations have shown that objects were placed deliberately on tracks in some incidents. Although the Indian Railways managed to prevent 90 percent of these attempts, in some cases, such as the Mysuru-Darbhanga Bagmati Express accident earlier this month, coaches derailed after hitting stationary objects, injuring passengers.

Other sabotage attempts included a gas cylinder found on the Roorkee-Luxor tracks and a seven-foot iron rod placed between Bilaspur road and Rudrapur in September. These were averted by alert locomotive pilots. The Gujarat Police and the NIA arrested a trackman and two railway employees for removing locks and fishplates from tracks between Kim and Kosamba stations last month.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had earlier confirmed that the Indian Railways had approached the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to look into the issue. He emphasised that LiDAR would speed up the detection of track flaws, enabling faster responses to problems.

The LiDAR system will not only identify track defects but will also help prevent derailments and collisions by providing real-time data. This data can also be analysed to create predictive models that can forecast potential issues before they occur, improving the overall safety.

Indian companies involved in LiDAR technology include Gurugram-based NeoGeoInfo, Bengaluru's Intraspatial, and Hyderabad-based Geokno. The global LiDAR industry is dominated by Chinese companies like Shanghai-headquartered HESAI Technology, which controlled two-thirds of the market in 2022, according to industry reports.

Alongside the LiDAR project, the Indian Railways plans to install 75 lakh AI-powered CCTV cameras in coaches and locomotives at a cost of Rs 15,000 crore to improve safety. Tenders for this initiative, which will cover 40,000 coaches, 14,000 locomotives, and 6,000 EMUs, are expected to be floated soon.