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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">ISPRS-Archives</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">ISPRS-Archives</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci.</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub">2194-9034</issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/isprs-archives-XLIX-B2-2026-387-2026</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Railway parameter extraction with high-precision UAV-photogrammetry: a feasibility study</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>De Burggrave</surname>
<given-names>Lucas</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Bartczak</surname>
<given-names>Erkki</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Cuypers</surname>
<given-names>Suzanna</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9196-2912</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Derdaele</surname>
<given-names>Jens</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Bassier</surname>
<given-names>Maarten</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Dept. of Civil Engineering, –Geomatics Section, KU Leuven - Faculty of Engineering Technology, Ghent, Belgium</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Surveying Dept. – TUC RAIL, Brussels, Belgium</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>23</day>
<month>07</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>XLIX-B2-2026</volume>
<fpage>387</fpage>
<lpage>395</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Lucas De Burggrave et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://isprs-archives.copernicus.org/articles/XLIX-B2-2026/387/2026/isprs-archives-XLIX-B2-2026-387-2026.html">This article is available from https://isprs-archives.copernicus.org/articles/XLIX-B2-2026/387/2026/isprs-archives-XLIX-B2-2026-387-2026.html</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://isprs-archives.copernicus.org/articles/XLIX-B2-2026/387/2026/isprs-archives-XLIX-B2-2026-387-2026.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://isprs-archives.copernicus.org/articles/XLIX-B2-2026/387/2026/isprs-archives-XLIX-B2-2026-387-2026.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>This paper presents a feasibility study on the extraction of railway parameters from high-precision UAV photogrammetry. A two-stage methodology is adopted: first, point-cloud accuracy and rail-surface coverage are optimized through controlled laboratory and field acquisitions; second, the resulting point clouds are evaluated against the local precision requirements for railway parameter extraction. Laboratory tests show that the SfM workflow is intrinsically capable of sub-millimeter agreement under controlled conditions. In the field, standard nadir and higher-altitude flights proved insufficient to reconstruct the narrow rail-side geometry required for accurate gauge estimation. The best results were obtained by combining a 15 m nadir flight with additional side-looking images at 2.5 m and 5 m, yielding local fitted-surface RMS values down to 0.25 mm and about 0.37 mm on the rail running surface.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Although the best lightweight UAV configuration still showed a 2.2 mm gauge discrepancy relative to TLS, the laboratory validation and the strong performance of optimized acquisitions indicate that tolerance-compliant railway parameter extraction may be achievable with higher-end UAV platforms and improved rail-side visibility. Overall, the results confirm the strong potential of UAV photogrammetry for near-industrial railway documentation.</p>
</abstract>
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