RailTel OFC Survey for Track-Side Fibre Routes and Yards

What does a RailTel OFC survey along the track involve?

A RailTel OFC survey along the track is a ground scan of the cess and approaches where the fibre will run. It locates existing railway cables, earthing, drains and crossings with depth and kilometre marking, so trenching or drilling beside a running line is planned, not improvised. The survey uses ground penetrating radar (GPR). Its antenna sends radar pulses into the cess, and each cable trough, earth strip or drain sends a return signal back to the receiver.

RailTel Corporation of India Limited was set up in 2000 under the Ministry of Railways to build a telecom network on railway land. It was granted Navratna status in 2024. Its fibre runs along the tracks and supports both railway communication and commercial services such as the RailWire broadband brand and Wi-Fi at stations. New laying, capacity upgrades and cable replacement all mean digging next to the rails.

Why is track-side ground different from a road?

Because the railway's own services sit in the same narrow strip, and a mistake there can affect train movement as well as a customer's broadband. The cess beside the ballast typically carries:

• signalling and telecom cables feeding signals, track circuits and level crossing gates;
• earthing connections for the masts of the 25 kV AC overhead equipment on electrified sections;
• power cables to stations, cabins and lighting;
• older RailTel or railway optic fibre and copper cable that may be live, spare or abandoned;
• side drains and catch-water drains on cuttings and embankments.

Ballast itself scatters the radar signal, so we scan in the cess and on the formation shoulder, not across the ballast bed. Embankment slopes need a different approach again, with short scans at the toe and top. A high frequency antenna on the cess gives the cleanest picture of shallow troughs.

The ground under the cess is also unusual. Embankments are built from compacted fill, sometimes mixed with old ballast and quarry dust that has worked its way down over decades. That material is dry and often reads well, but stones scatter the signal and can look like small pipes. Our engineers compare each suspect buried object along neighbouring scan lines. A real cable or pipe continues in a line, while a stone does not.

How do we work safely beside a running line?

Under the railway's site rules and with its nominated supervision, never on our own timetable. Our crews follow the permission and safety arrangements that come with the contractor's work order, which may include a railway representative on site, lookouts and fixed working hours. We keep equipment clear of the track and the swept area of passing trains at all times.

Our safety management system is certified to ISO 45001. On site that translates into simple habits: a briefing before each shift, every person in high-visibility clothing, and no crossing of the track except at authorised points.

Where does the work slow down?

At station yards, bridges and level crossings, where services bunch and access is tight.

1. Station yards. Points machines, signal cables and lighting cables multiply. We scan the yard in a grid instead of lines.
2. Bridges and major culverts. Cable crosses on the structure in troughs or ducts; we survey the approaches where the route goes back underground.
3. Level crossings. Road traffic, gate cables and a road carriageway mean the crossing often needs an HDD shot. The approach pits are where most clashes happen.
4. Cuttings. Rock or hard strata under shallow soil may limit trench depth. The scan shows where these soil conditions change.

Cable replacement brings its own task. The old cable has to be found along its whole length before the new one goes in, and records from earlier decades are often thin. We trace live metallic cable with the locator and follow non-metallic duct with GPR, marking changes of side, joints and any loops left for spare length. That trace becomes the base for the new route, so the trench runs beside the old cable, not through it.

For the scan pattern and deliverable format in more depth, see our OFC route GPR survey details.

RailTel OFC survey at a glance

Telling owners of buried assets before excavation is part of good practice everywhere; a plain-language explainer on Call Before u Dig covers how that works in India.

How do we report locations along the track?

By railway kilometre and the nearest overhead equipment mast or telegraph pole number, as well as by coordinates. Track-side gangs think in kilometres and pole numbers, not in latitude and longitude, so each crossing on our list carries both. The drawing is split into sections between stations, so a supervisor can carry only the sheet for that day's stretch.

Every sheet shows the track, the cess boundary, each detected service with its estimated depth and a short note where the reading is weak. The radargrams from data collection sit in a separate folder, named by kilometre. Anyone checking our work can open the exact scan behind any line, and the set forms lasting underground utility mapping of the section.

We work on fibre routes for operators of every kind; you can find telecom operator projects details on our sector page.

What does a track-side survey cost?

₹24 per metre for a standard scan and ₹32 per metre for an L-section, GST extra; the minimum order is ₹1,00,000 outside Delhi NCR and ₹50,000 inside it. Long sections earn whole-order discounts of 25% above 100 km, 40% above 500 km and 50% above 1,000 km.

A 60 km block section between two junctions, standard scan, costs 60,000 × ₹24 = ₹14,40,000 plus GST. A 520 km route crosses the 500 km slab, so the rate drops to ₹14.40 per metre and the order is ₹74,88,000 plus GST. There are full details of GPR survey rates on the price list.

Do we work for RailTel?

Yes, on direct work orders and through laying contractors. RailTel Corporation of India Limited and Indian Railways have issued survey jobs to Mezux Touch themselves. Company names on this page are used only to describe the type of work; all trademarks belong to their owners. We survey for the contractors who carry out the laying and replacement, with our own crews and equipment. Send the section, the work order's permitted hours and your start date, and ask for a quotation.

Frequently asked questions

Can you scan between the rails?

No. We do not work on the track itself. Scanning stays in the cess, the shoulder and the yard areas we are permitted to enter.

How do you tell a signalling cable from a power cable?

Live metallic cables are traced with a locator, and their routes to signals, cabins and gates make the type clear in most cases. Where it is still uncertain, we mark the cable as unidentified.

Do you need a line block?

Not for the scan in most cases, since we stay clear of the track. The railway's site rules decide.

Can the same team plan the level crossing bore?

Yes. Our scan feeds the bore plan; our page on HDD route survey explains how.

How fast is a track-side survey?

On open sections, several kilometres a day; yards and bridge approaches take longer. A GPR survey of a yard grid needs more lines to detect features such as point machine cables.

Written by Saniya Parveen · Technically reviewed by Rahul Rai · Updated 8 November 2026