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Introduction
Pipelines are the most efficient, cost effective and environmentally friendly means of fluid transport. Transmission or trunk pipelines are examples of engineering marvel requiring high project cost and long gestation periods and operating life. Careful planning of their route can save on cost, time and operating expenses, ensure longer operational life and help prevent environmental fallouts.

Throughout the world, a large network of pipes transports oil, gas, water and different products. Pipeline transport is most prevalent in USA where nearly two-thirds of the ton-miles of oil get transported annually through a network of more than two million kilometers of pipelines, in some of the toughest terrains. Pipelines are by far the most economical, practical and safe option of fluid transport. They save enormously due to their tenfold efficiency over trucking / railroad operations and accrue important environmental and safety benefits by reducing the highway congestion, pollution and spill. This inexpensive, reliable and high capacity transport is critical to national economy and security.

In India the trend towards pipeline transport is increasing – and is likely to accentuate with privatization of petroleum sector and growth of cities. The pipeline network will see an exponential growth from the current installed network of nearly one lakh kilometer. Petroleum and petroleum products being basic raw material for many industries, the use of pipelines shall increase for sectors like fertilizers, power, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, plastics, industrial chemicals, transport etc., Growth of cities will likewise increase the demand for water pipelines. The method as such is general enough to apply to all linear infrastructure like transport network etc and can be applied to road, rail and conveyor transport and to transmission and distribution of power and data.

The pipelines are used for transmission, distribution and gathering. The most sophisticated and large pipelines fall in the transmission category. These are often large diameter (>100 cm dia.) pipelines incorporating automated monitoring and control of flow, pressure and fluctuations. These pipelines are highly capital-intensive installations with long lead and long life. Typical installation costs range from Rs. 6 million / km for water pipeline to Rs. 20 millions/km for gas pipelines with oil pipelines at intermediate range of 10 million. Material and laying components account for 70-90 per cent of cost. The construction of pipeline is facilitated by proper analysis of route location for access to right of way, terrain for obstructions and weather for movement of equipment.

Assessment on pipeline alignment
Pipeline operation entails a comprehensive strategy for routine operations and maintenance, damage prevention, safety, security, environmental protection and emergency response. Many of these factors fall within the regulatory framework and require compliance. Routes passing through unusually sensitive areas like water supply reservoirs, populated areas and ecologically sensitive areas need extra precautions against accidental spillage. Mapping of pipelines for administering a sound operations program is now considered essential.

Scientific planning of pipeline route can reduce cost and time of project execution and hence the operating expenses. Pipeline alignment is basically an optimization between costs of the material and the construction. Natural and man-made terrain obstructions cause spatial variation in construction cost due to changing thematic features like types of soils, intervals of slope, etc. Manual pipeline route planning uses available maps, surveys and experience and is seriously constrained due to lack of updated data and quantitative approach. This is accentuated for complex terrains and long routes. Remote sensing (RS) and GIS method on the contrary uses updated maps from latest RS data, integrates thematic cost layers in GIS environment and computes all possible routes with associated costs. Apart from saving 5-15 % route length, the method has potential benefits like cadastral overlays on route for gadget notification, precise location data on installations and organization of O&M (Operations and Maintenance data).

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