Abstract
Many of the obstacles to effective delivery of rail projects (in terms of cost, time and quality) can be traced back to poor collaboration across complex design teams and supply chains. As in any infrastructure delivery process, it is important to make decisions collaboratively at an early design stage. Advanced systems such as Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can facilitate collaboration during the decision-making process and boost work efficiencies. Such potential benefits are not realised because the roles of BIM and GIS in facilitating collaboration are not clearly understood or articulated. This paper aims to identify and articulate collaboration requirements during the design stage of rail projects. To achieve this, a mixed-method approach was employed to examine the issues that hinder collaboration in rail projects. An online questionnaire was designed to assess the state-of-art in BIM and GIS, followed by fifteen follow-up face to face interviews with experts to identify collaboration issues and suggestions to overcome them. The research identified the main challenges to effective collaboration and provided suggestions to overcome them. The main challenges were managing information and a reluctance to use new collaboration technologies. The main solution which emerged from the data was to develop an original Collaborative Plan of Work (CPW). The developed CPW is tailored to rail projects and has been formulated by combining the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) Plan of Work and the GRIP Stages (Governance for Railway Investment Projects). This comprehensive plan of work, which is uniquely collaboration-focused, is significant because it can be further developed to formulate a precise process model for collaboration during the design process of rail projects. Such a process can (for example) be configured into the workflow prescribed by a Common Data Environment.
Highlights
In recent years, the importance of collaboration in the construction sector has driven innovations in its Information and Communication Technologies
The aim of this paper is to identify and articulate collaboration requirements during rail design, recognising the role that an integrated application of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can play in meeting those requirements
Effective collaboration is essential to the success of any project, megaprojects such as rail projects
Summary
The importance of collaboration in the construction sector has driven innovations in its Information and Communication Technologies. Collaboration across parties and processes facilitated by digital technologies is often identified as a key necessity to deliver successful rail projects. A Network Rail [1] report forecasted that the adoption of the collaborative working practices facilitated by digital technologies could deliver savings of 30%. Collaboration is crucial for any project to achieve the project objectives in terms of cost, time and quality, but is important in rail projects due to their added complexity and scale. The complexity of rail projects is noteworthy. Like many linear infrastructure projects, they can span hundreds of kilometres, covering diverse geographies and environments. Rail projects carry the added complexity of extensive line-side furniture
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
