Sign up for a free trial of News Direct's animated news graphics at http://newsdirect.nma.com.tw/Reuters.aspx France's national state-owned railway company, the SNCF, announced on Tuesday that it started testing drones to monitor its high-speed rail network in effort to deter costly copper cable theft. The drone, which measures about a metre wide, was launched between Gard and Vaucluse in southern France. The spider-like aircraft, which is controlled with a simple joystick and transmits images in real time, is installed with two cameras, one high-definition and the other being wide-angle. The drone is battery-powered and can get as close as 5 metres to its subject. The battery can last up to 20 minutes and the controller can be as far as one kilometre away from the aircraft. The drone can operate either during the day or at night and will not affect usual train operation. The SNCF claims that copper cable theft costs 30 million euros a year, which doesn't include financial losses caused by service interruptions. Prior to the development of the drone project, the SNCF used helicopters to monitor its railway lines, which required costly helicopter rentals, as much as 1,500 euros per hour. According to Le Figaro, drones can be purchased for 3,000 euros each. Drones are being used more often in France, for various reasons, apart from being able to monitor train networks, they can survey difficult to reach land, road conditions in inclement weather, and accidents in remote areas, such as mountain trails, for example. Socialist president of the Marseille urban community, and mayoral candidate, recently proposed the use of drones to monitor violent street crime in the coastal city.

• published: 07 Dec 2013
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