The Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL) is gearing to launch the survey for the proposed Thalassery-Wayanad-Mysuru rail line by using the heliborne geophysical mapping technique.
The KRCL would reportedly use the service of the CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), Hyderabad, for the purpose.
The officials of the NGRI conducted a trial run of the survey at Sulthan Bathery in the district on Tuesday.
The aerial survey would be conducted by using a helicopter attached with electromagnetic instruments, sources said. It would fly at a height of 50 metres with the instruments. It would provide a high resolution 3D image of the sub-surface up to a depth of 500 metres below the ground, sources said.
The survey would assess the structure of soil, rock formations, underground water sources, and marshy lands, the sources said.
If the climate was be favourable, the survey would begin at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, the sources said. During the first phase, the survey would be conducted from Sulthan Bathery to Mananthavady and later, similar surveys would be held in Thalassery and Mysuru.
The state-of-the-art technology, heli survey technology, would also be used to map the map aquifers in the northwestern States of the country, sources said.