Last week, the SNCF (French National Railway Company) completed its first experiment of viaduct inspection by an UAS. During this experiment, the trains were still running at 300 km/h.
Until now, the inspection and maintenance of the viaduct in concrete of Roquemaure, built from 1997 to 1998 above the Rhone, was performed annually by a vehicle circulating on the road, equipped with a basket to drop below the viaduct. But on Tuesday, 5 November, in the morning, this inspection was carried out by a small UAS flying close to the arches of the viaduct where pass trains between Orange (Vaucluse) and Roquemaure (Gard) and piloted by an operator on the Bank of the Rhone.
