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The crossover of mapping, BIM and GIS Brisbane’s new underground Cross River Rail is setting new benchmarks for the federation of BIM, GIS and 3D visualisation.
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ross River Rail is a new twintunnel, underground rail line that will run under the Brisbane River and Brisbane CBD. It is set to transform the way people travel across the whole of South East Queensland. Once Cross River Rail is operational, journeys to, from and through Brisbane will be quicker, there will be new stations in more convenient locations, and public transport will become a more viable option for the whole region. Set for completion in 2024 and with services expected to start in 2025, the $5.4 billion project will create not only four new city-centre underground stations but also a new above-ground station at the city’s iconic RNA Showgrounds. It also involves a rebuild of six existing stations between Fairfield and Salisbury to the south of the city and delivery of three new stations further south again, on the Gold Coast. Along the way, the Cross River Rail Delivery Authority (CRRDA) is installing a new world-class ETCS train signalling system and, most notably for this article, it is also responsible for the planning and delivery of precinct development outcomes at each of the project’s five major inner-city station sites. This precinct planning component is far larger than many people realise, and
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from the outset has driven an increased focus on above-ground land mapping and GIS than might be otherwise expected for the construction of what is primarily an underground rail line.
Common data environment At the project’s southernmost Boggo Road station, construction will leave behind nearly three hectares of developable land at the heart of an area that is already a world-class health, science and education precinct. At Woolloongabba just south of the Brisbane River, a huge 4.5-hectare site that is currently the launch site for the project’s giant tunnel boring machines provides the potential for not only the development of an entirely new town centre but integration also with Brisbane’s iconic Gabba stadium. The latter is a venue that the Queensland Government has recently announced will be completely redeveloped, should Brisbane be successfully appointed as hosts of the 2032 Olympics. As the project then extends under and north of the Brisbane River, construction of a new station at the corner of Mary St and Albert St will leave behind a prime central CBD land lot. Then at Roma St on the northern edge of the city, demolition of the tired and unloved
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Brisbane Transit Centre will create not only potential for new commercial and residential developments on yet another large three-plus-hectare land lot, but the station site has also been earmarked as the preferred site for Brisbane Live. This new 18,000-seat indoor entertainment centre will replace Brisbane’s outdated Boondall Entertainment Centre, located an inconvenient 16 kilometres to the north of the city. All of this is why, at the outset of project delivery back in 2017, CRRDA realised that the project would have potentially unique needs in respect of correlating its BIM approach to GIS and land mapping. This realisation was exacerbated further once the delivery team started to contemplate how that relationship might also encompass best practice for both 3D digital visualisation and system or information modelling. To encompass all of these areas in a single exercise, the Delivery Authority has adopted a common data environment and federated model approach. This ensures that not only must multiple major contractors contribute to a single master BIM model, but that the BIM data set is combined with data sets in proprietary GIS platforms — including ‘desktop’ and ‘webmap’ applications — and that the