Gold Coast Rapid Transit - Arup - Arup

Gold Coast Rapid Transit

Project Summary

The Gold Coast Rapid Transit consists of 13km of dual track light rail system in a shared Road and Rail corridor, connecting the Griffith University to Broadbeach. Technically challenging, the light rail system occupies much of the existing road corridor, requiring alterations to the functionality of the road network. This design required very close coordination between the rail and road alignments to ensure an integrated approach. As part of a multi-discipline design team, Arup also delivered the designs for four bridges, numerous retaining walls, track form, stormwater drainage, system conduits and pits, lighting, traffic signals, and more. It was decided the teams would deliver the detailed design as a fully integrated 12d project, with 12d design teams including rail, road, and stormwater drainage.

The Challenge

The project involved many inter-discipline interfaces using 12d Model with 12d design/survey teams including rail alignments, road design, stormwater drainage, survey (MacDow) and utility services (Cardno).
Processes were required to ensure all disciplines were using up to date and controlled information as the design progressed.
Processes were required to allow resources to come onto the project and allow multiple designers to work on the modelling at one time.

The Solution

The decision was made to produce the design in 12d Model to enable all relevant disciplines to work from 12d and utilise the model sharing capability. Doing this would enable a truly coordinated approach to the multi-disciplinary design.

Stringent processes were put in place to utilise model sharing between disciplines. As the different disciplines had varying delivery dates on design packages, control of the information shared was important.

The project was broken down into many small 12d Model projects to allow flexibility for the design teams and resources. To assist with this, the number of design models produced was minimised by consolidating design information where possible (many functions create strings on the one design model). All models were then shared to form the complete design. For this process to run smoothly, a rigid modelling convention was set up and used by the design teams.

The rail alignments team - comprising of five designers - needed to be immediately up-skilled in the use of 12d Model to deliver the rail design.  A number of light rail specific macros were developed by 12d in consultation with the Arup team, to address their particular project requirements. 

The Result

“As Queensland’s first ever light rail system, the Gold Coast Light Rail project represents a major step forward in transforming the city into a modern, accessible destination.”
—City of Gold Coast website