Use Drones To Monitor Rail Track, Is it Possible?

Drone or commonly known as unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is an aircraft without a human pilot aboard [Wikipedia]. Drones are used widely in military applications. Recent years witness the significant increase in drone usage on civil applications. As the name implies, drones are usually used to do jobs that are too risky for manned aircraft such as pipeline surveillance, real estate, firefighting etc.

Mini drones for civil applications (Credit : NBC News)

Bigger size drone commonly used for military applications. (Credit : Gizmodo)

In Malaysia, any drone user must obtain relevant approval from Department of Civil Aviation (DCA). Some requirements from the DCA must be met by drone users as stated here.

Drone enthusiasts especially from Malaysia generally use it to capture aerial images that are impossible to be captured by using normal photography technique.

Aerial images captured by drone (Source : Here)

Since the drone is very effective in capturing aerial image at places where human are impossible to access, why can't we use it to capture the aerial image of our rail track as well as trains? You know, maybe it can capture the image of trains that face service disruption along the track.

The drone users may share the images quickly with transit users so that they can have a clearer idea on what is happening if their desired train faces service disruption.

From service provider's view, they can use drones for safety purpose for example to  they can also monitor bus routes to see if any of the buses are stranded in traffic jams of involved in road accident.

In terms of cost, You can get the drone from RM200 to RM 2000 per unit, depending on its specifications.

The idea on monitoring rail track has been raised by BNSF on March 2015.

What do you guys say?