Case Study: Swiss Federal Railways achieves faster, more accurate rail infrastructure monitoring with WingtraOne by Wingtra

Swiss Federal Railways uses drone data to maintain and develop its rail infrastructure

Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), one of Europe’s top public transit operators, needed a better way to maintain rail infrastructure amid climate change, limited space for drone operations, and sensitive urban environments. Working with Wingtra and its WingtraOne VTOL drone, SBB sought a faster, more flexible way to capture accurate data for tasks like reservoir monitoring, vegetation management, and forestry risk assessment.

Wingtra helped SBB survey large and hard-to-reach areas quickly, including mapping 300 hectares of the Sihlsee reservoir in less than two hours with 4 cm accuracy. With WingtraOne’s high coverage, precision, and multispectral imaging, SBB could create orthophotos, support machine-learning-based vegetation targeting, and verify dead trees near rail lines—saving time, reducing chemical use, and improving safety.

Swiss Federal Railways

Andreas Hoffmann

Project Engineer