{"id":559422,"date":"2023-01-10T06:44:25","date_gmt":"2023-01-10T14:44:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=559422"},"modified":"2025-04-03T14:03:13","modified_gmt":"2025-04-03T21:03:13","slug":"brisbane-subway-digital-twin","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/brisbane-subway-digital-twin","title":{"rendered":"In Australia\u2019s Fastest-Growing City, a Digital Twin Guides Rail Expansion"},"author":671,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[],"tags":[483062,21622,374302,483072,166942],"industry":[],"esri-blog-category":[478302],"esri_blog_department":[478202],"class_list":["post-559422","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-brisbane","tag-digital-twin","tag-railroad","tag-underground","tag-virtual-reality","esri-blog-category-transportation","esri_blog_department-infrastructure"],"acf":{"video_source":"","video_start":"","video_stop":"","short_description":"The team behind Cross River Rail, a rail transport modernization program in Brisbane, Australia, created a digital twin to track projects.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Right","content":"In Brisbane, the most rapidly growing city in Australia, a digital twin and a virtual reality program guide the design and construction of an underground railway.\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Key Takeaways<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>In Brisbane, Australia, an evolving digital twin is helping teams design and build the underground Cross River Rail project, the city\u2019s first subway.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Engineers and designers use a central repository to integrate all data related to the new tunnels and stations, married to a realistic model of the city above.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>A game engine transforms the twin into a virtual reality tool to walk through designs, plan complicated construction, and communicate progress.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The team tasked with designing the first underground railway under the heart of Australia\u2019s fastest-growing city knew it would be a delicate task, fraught with infrastructural peril. Tunneling several stories under Brisbane\u2019s teeming metropolis, constructing expansive subterranean stations\u2014what could go wrong?<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With the scheduled completion less than two years away, it\u2019s clear they made strong choices. But at the outset, nobody knew that the effort would involve an ingenious application of a geographic information system (GIS), creating a detailed and up-to-date 3D model of the project and the Queensland capital city above it, and an immersive digital twin that brings the project to life.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3 style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>A Rapidly Growing Queensland<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Queensland government conceived the Cross River Rail project as a way to alleviate population pressures. By 2036, the South East Queensland metro area is projected to add another 1.5 million residents (a number that by itself would make it Australia\u2019s fifth-largest city), pushing the region\u2019s total population to nearly 5 million.<\/p>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":559532,"image_position":"right","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Most of these new arrivals will live outside of Brisbane, but within commuting distance. Many of the new jobs, however, will be in the Brisbane CBD (central business district), on the north bank of the Brisbane River.\r\n\r\nCurrent rail infrastructure is insufficient to handle the necessary increase in CBD-bound train traffic. Cross River Rail will add 6 kilometers of twin tunnels under the river and four new underground stations.\r\n<h3><strong>A Bigger, Better Model<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nSoon after the project was announced, the Cross River Rail Delivery Authority, the overseeing agency created by the Queensland government, sought advice from colleagues on the other side of the world. The Crossrail project in London, launched in 2009, has similar aims, creating new tunnels and ten new underground stations throughout Central London.\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Crossrail involves construction beneath a metro area even denser than Brisbane\u2019s, with extremely narrow margins to avoid damaging existing underground infrastructure. \u201cThey\u2019re like our big brother that we idolize,\u201d said Russell Vine, Cross River\u2019s chief innovation officer.<\/p>\r\nBy the time Cross River\u2019s plans were beginning, Crossrail had been under construction for almost seven years. The Cross River team contacted their British counterparts and asked what, if anything, they would do differently if they could start over.\r\n\r\n\u201cThey basically said, \u2018we would have built a bigger, better 3D digital model sooner,\u2019\u201d Vine said. The big brother then offered three steps for how to build the perfect GIS-driven digital twin:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Create a common data environment<\/strong><\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Stipulate that all contractors use the same standards in their 3D architectural models, so that they can all combine into a single model for the project<\/strong><\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Make the model immersive<\/strong><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h3><strong>An Expansive Mission<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nFor starters, Crossrail recommended that Cross River create a common data environment for all work. Any project-related dataset, no matter what the format\u2014GIS, building information modeling (BIM), volumetric, photogrammetry (a three-dimensional coordinate measuring technique that uses photographs), everything\u2014should be in a central repository.\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This was useful advice. In recent years, GIS technology has become adept at integrating BIM models and other project-related data formats into a GIS environment.<\/p>\r\nBIM models are 3D architectural models. They describe and depict the actual things being built or dug, while GIS adds contextual awareness."},{"acf_fc_layout":"gallery","gallery_images":[559512,559462,559502]},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rather than just consider the BIM models as inert objects floating in space, people involved in a project can visualize what\u2019s around them. In GIS they can see how each structure fits into the infrastructure above ground (such as paths, roads, and light poles), underground (the pipes and lines that connect utility services) and to the natural world (landscaping, groundwater, and even wildlife and biodiversity considerations).<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The advice also helped Cross River handle a broad mandate. When Queensland\u2019s government created the Cross River Rail Delivery Authority, it required the agency to be responsible not just for the railway itself, but also for planning and assessing the project\u2019s economic impact.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There was a good reason to include this mandate in the agency\u2019s charter. Although Cross River\u2019s aim anticipates future developments in the region, its location means Cross River will also <em>influence<\/em> those developments.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cCross River Rail is going right under the CBD, so the area around the stations is already prime land where the city will grow next,\u201d Vine said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3 style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Everything In Federation<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Crossrail\u2019s second piece of advice related to BIM data coming from the project\u2019s many contractors and subcontractors. Create a \u201cfederated\u201d BIM model, the Brits advised.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That meant combining the disparate BIM information into a single BIM file that depicts everything. For that to happen, Cross River needed to ensure that every contracting entity was using exactly the same data formats, standards, and protocols.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWhat the Crossrail team didn\u2019t realize until it was too late is that all their contractors were telling Crossrail how they were going to submit their BIM models\u2014it was baked into the contracts,\u201d Vine said. \u201cThey told us, \u2018we indulged them, and we shouldn\u2019t have.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3 style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Rail Games<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Crossrail\u2019s third recommendation is \u201cthe party piece, the one everybody loves,\u201d Vine said, because it\u2019s about making the model immersive. \u201cThey told us they should\u2019ve put all their data into a game engine and turned it into virtual reality.\u201d<\/p>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":559522,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Australian team did just that, using Unreal Engine, a 3D gaming tool, to tie it all together, so anyone sitting anywhere could be transported inside the place they were set to build.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cSo we have a federated BIM model of all the stations and all the tunnels, and GIS land mapping in 3D,\u201d Vine said. \u201cBut then we put it all into Unreal, crank the magic gaming engine handle, and it gives us back a single virtual reality.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The result is 17 kilometers of immersive railway infrastructure that can be explored, like a first-person game, on a screen manipulating a web scene or with a virtual reality (VR) headset. The Cross River team even built a virtual reality theater using a five-way projection system, so that many people can explore the project together.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The virtual reality component transcends mere flash, providing a way for non-technical stakeholders\u2014people not directly involved in the design and construction of Cross River\u2014to view the project as it proceeds. It also gives those who are part of the design team the kind of visual assessments that even the most detailed 3D BIM model cannot provide. As one example, Vine points to the Roma Street station, where teams are experimenting with ways to install a massive art exhibition space on a concourse wall, trying and testing different ideas virtually before they finalize the design and build it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3 style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>The Digital Twin Expands to Capture All of Brisbane<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cross River\u2019s commitment to the common data environment (step one of the three-point plan recommended by the Brits) signaled a shift in the usual relationship between GIS and BIM on this kind of large infrastructure project. In the past, GIS for sure would have served as a crucial support player, a context-adding host for the 3D architectural BIM renderings. But given the mandate to document economic development around the train stations, Cross River elevated the importance of GIS. To depict those above-ground areas, Cross River would require skillful 3D maps, including data gathered by Lidar sensors to capture engineering-grade measurements.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That, in turn, led to another requirement. The above-ground data would <em>also<\/em> require context.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If the goal was to understand how the stations would affect economic development in the CBD, it didn\u2019t make sense to map just the area around them. You needed a map of the <em>entire<\/em> CBD.\u00a0And everything would need to be layered perfectly, so that anything underground (stations, tracks, tunnels, cables, and pipes) lined up in every respect with what was above it.<\/p>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"gallery","gallery_images":[559482,559492,559472]},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The result is a 3D land layer that shows lots, utilities, and other pertinent visual information. Cross River\u2019s use of 3D even includes material designed in consultation with Brett Leavy, a self-described \u201ccultural heritage digital Jedi\u201d who uses advanced VR technology to recreate pre-colonial Brisbane. Leavy\u2019s input, Vine explained, has helped ensure that the project honors and remains respectful of a First Nations perspective.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe went from \u2018it\u2019s all about building a railway\u2019 to \u2018ah, it\u2019s also about rebuilding the city,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cWe ended up making a 3D model of Brisbane, because it was impossible to do one without doing the other.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3 style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>A Twin Without End<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Cross River digital twin is a continuous work in progress. As designs are finalized and construction proceeds, a staircase or tunnel that existed as a single item in a contractor\u2019s initial BIM submission becomes one with thousands of individual components in the federated BIM model.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beyond just the Cross River project, there\u2019s no reason the digital twin can\u2019t continue to grow in perpetuity, evolving with Brisbane itself. \u201cWe have a running joke about Cross River Rail, that the more you look at it, the bigger it gets,\u201d Vine said, noting that after the project began, the city was selected to host the 2032 Summer Olympic Games. \u201cWe have an opportunity to take what we\u2019ve done here as part of building a railway line and stretch it to include everything we\u2019re going to need to build for the Olympics.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Vine even foresees the twin being a tool for operating the system in addition to its value in design, construction, and project management. \u201cWe realized we\u2019ve built a digital twin that will help run the railway,\u201d he said. \u201cSo there\u2019s almost a whole second chapter waiting to be written.\u201d<\/p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Read more about how <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/rail\/overview\">rail operations use GIS to modernize transportation<\/a> and how <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/digital-twin\/overview\">GIS creates digital twins of the natural and built environments<\/a>.<\/p>\r\nView the \"Mega Timelapse\" video below to see how the project progressed in 2022."},{"acf_fc_layout":"youtube","youtube_video_url":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/eWA_2yIUFW8"}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>In Australia\u2019s Fastest-Growing City, a Digital Twin Guides Rail Expansion<\/title>\n<meta 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