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1 0 0 1 1 1 0 Contents Comment Page 4 When it comes to the railway, the public has almost no Location. Location. Station. patience. The mere mention of tardy trains, construction delays, or projects going over budget has people steaming Strategic benefits, local regeneration, disused mine shafts, at the ears. That means those running the railway need and great crested newts could all have a say in the location accurate information to do their jobs properly; and, if of a new railway station. Norrie Courts, Network Rail’s possible, they need it yesterday. Director of Stations, explains the factors that must be So, for Norrie Courts (p4) and his colleagues, who considered when choosing a new site. choose sites for Network Rail stations, they need to know all about roosting bats, crested newts, land procurement issues, disused mine shafts, and how a new station will affect timetables across the network. Page 5 Similarly, those working on the HS2 project must mull the minutiae to make sure the route runs as smoothly possible. In its route feasibility studies (p5-6), Arup Route feasibility, data & land access and makes use of everything from LIDAR mapping, aerial EIA mapping photography, environmental data, maps dating back to the 1600s, and even kayaks (to paddle out for their otter and Route feasibility, data and land access, and EIA mapping are vole surveys) to find the course of least disturbance and best tricky issues to navigate. Paul Cruise, Associate Director, financial sense – an undertaking that can involve analysing Arup, Nick Mitchard, Associate Director, Arup and Tammy 2,000 layers of data are per location. Strong, Senior Engineer, Arup, explain how it’s done. But how do you safeguard against having too much data – the plague of information that stifles decision-making? For Malcolm Taylor, Head of Technical Information at Crossrail (p 9-11), the management, visualisation, and careful selection of data are key in not only creating a Page 7 detailed picture of the Crossrail system, but in providing a clear blueprint to run and maintain the line. First of all, the data must be accurate. Imagine Canary The High-Speed juggle Wharf Tower lying flat on its side and being pushed below the ground across London – underneath some of the most Whether in South Yorkshire, Leeds, or Manchester, HS2 expensive real estate in the world. You can see why satellite encounters a tricky mix of challenges. monitoring that detects millimetre-scale terrain changes and feedback from ground surveys are so important. At the same time, data must be available at the tap of a finger and it must be accessible at varying levels of complexity, depending on who needs it. To achieve Page 9 this, Taylor and his colleagues have created a common data environment that provides 3D representations of Decoding Crossrail Crossrail’s inner workings. These countless layers of data can be peeled onion-like to reveal as much or little information of this virtual railway as necessary. For Crossrail to work, Malcolm Taylor said that: “Knowledge is knowing that and his colleagues needed to create Miles Kington a tomato is a fruit, and wisdom is not putting it in a fruit a common data environment. Eoin salad.” It is thus with data. Redahan spoke to Crossrail’s Head of Technical Information about the challenge of creating a virtual railway.
2 Rail & Data supplement NEWS
London’s Lost Tunnels
In recent years, there have been numerous concerning incidents involving rail tunnels and construction works that have highlighted the need for environmental vigilance.
One of these occurred in March 2013 when another in almost every major tunnel built Groundsure route the driver of a First Capital Connect train during the last 180 years, developed by from Moorgate to Welwyn Garden City Marc Brunel was based on a shipworm – a reported that water was flowing from the mollusc that shovels pulped wood into its Whitechapel Eastern Delivery roof of a rail tunnel between Old Street mouth then excretes a hard brittle residue Office Station and Essex Road Station on Network that lines the tunnel it has excavated, Rail’s Northern City Line. Moments later a rendering it safe from predators. Brunel’s piling rig’s auger broke through the cast iron design was improved and adapted by Peter lining of the tunnel below and landed on the W. Barlow in the course of the construction Liverpool Street King Edward tracks below. In February this year (2016), of the Tower Subway and then by James Street contractors drilled a hole through the roof of Henry Greathead for the City and South a London Underground tunnel just outside London Railway – known today as the Shepherds Bush Station. These two incidents Northern Line. occurred on known underground tunnels, Greathead’s shield incorporated Barlow’s Mount Pleasant Sorting Ofice but what about the lost tunnels from days cylindrical design and sharp steel blades gone by that cross the capital? with the use of compressed air and the Amongst the hundreds of miles of tube addition of cast-iron rings to line the tunnels tracks and railway lines lies a forgotten – adopted by today’s modern tunnel boring railway – the Royal Mail rail tunnels. machines. New Oxford Street The Royal Mail’s ‘secret’ railway was the Groundsure’s Geo Insight report first driverless electric railway in world, designed for Surveyors, Developers and with trains running for nineteen hours Environmental Consultants not only a day deep beneath the choked streets of identifies the location of existing and central London, transporting mail safe from proposed tube lines, but also historic and Rathbone Place Western traffic and weather. By the turn of the 20th abandoned railways and tunnels. Delivery Office century, congested streets and fog meant that mail transported between the main post offices and railway stations in London were severely delayed. It was suggested the Wimpole Street Old Western construction of the ‘Mail Rail’ was required Delivery Office and by 1913 the Post Office (London) Railway Bill was passed as an Act. The Mail Rail, which opened in 1927, once transported four million parcels and Bird Street Western Parcels Office letters a day along a network of 6.5 miles on 2ft gauge-lines, approximately 21 metres below the streets of London. The line ran from Paddington Head District Sorting Office in the west to the Eastern Head Paddington Sorting Office District Sorting Office at Whitechapel in the east, with eight intermediary stations along the route: Construction of the tunnels started in February 1915 from a series of shafts using the Greathead Shield System. Civil Engineer James Henry Greathead, “the father of the tube”, and once a pupil of Peter W. Barlow, made a significant contribution to the early tube network by developing a tunnelling shield that greatly speeded up the tunnelling process. The first successful tunnelling shield, a London Post Office Railway (Mail Rail) engine device that has been used in one form or and trailer
Rail & Data supplement 3 STATIONS
Location. Location. Station.
Strategic benefits, local regeneration, disused mine shafts, and great crested newts could all have a say in the location of a new railway station. Norrie Courts, Network Rail’s Director of Stations, explains the factors that must be considered when choosing a new site.
In August, £20 million was given by the When it comes to assessing the EIA’s carefully consider all the relevant facts of any Department of Transport to fund new undertaken by applicants, are there any submission. stations. red flags that would cause you to turn This funding will be allocated via an down the location of a new station? Are legal challenges and compulsory open competition. Local authorities, As you will appreciate, before the promoter purchase orders an everyday part of finding Network Rail, Welsh Government, and puts a bid in for funding, they would have new sites? developers can bid for allocations towards done a lot of research and spent a substantial A lot of work goes into planning stages by their schemes. The competition is currently amount of money in feasibility studies. any promoters and they need to consider underway with bids due at the end of Network Rail and the DfT work with the all the views/issues of stakeholders and November. Following extensive reviews of Promoter if issues arise to see what can be interested parties, including potential the bids by the Department for Transport done to mitigate the problem as we want to station neighbours. There are a wide range (DfT), an announcement of the successful see the station come to fruition to benefit of issues to address and sometimes a council schemes is planned for spring 2017. the local area, aid regeneration, and create may want to support a station case on land jobs. they do not own. This could result in them When it comes to choosing a new station, or another promoter seeking help to acquire which factors influence your choice of Have you even encountered unforeseen the land required via a compulsory purchase location? difficulties once a site has been chosen? If order. All promoters need to follow the Generally, if any party is promoting or so, what have they been? correct procedures as legal challenges are planning a new station, it is normally related Yes. There are always lots of different available to third parties if suitable grounds to items such as new towns, new large potential issues. These can include rare for a case exist. housing developments, regeneration areas, plants, protected species including bats and stations that have been previously closed but great crested newts, heritage properties that What is the most time-consuming aspect in are now worthy of re-opening, and wanting may require protection or improvement, finding a suitable location and getting the better transport infrastructure/interchanges disused mine shafts, contaminated ground project off the ground? etc. conditions, and flooding risk also has to Getting the project off the ground involves be assessed fully in any potential station a substantial amount of stakeholder What sort of data do you analyse before scheme. As an example, great crested newts engagement, along with funding to justify making your decision? were found at Ilkeston, which led to delays and prove the need for a new station and also The DfT bid documentation asks for a in starting on site whilst they were all the political will to get the project started and number of items as part of the application, captured and moved to another site. completed. Promoters need to do enough including current transport issues, work to build a strong case for the DfT to challenges, target population, strategic Which parts of the country are most in consider but they also need to be aware of benefits, operational benefits, economic need of new sites? How difficult is it abortive costs should they be unsuccessful. growth, passenger demand, timetable to integrate these within the existing Any promoter needs to ensure they garner verification, alignment with Network Rail network? local support for their project early in route strategies, alignment with wider The first round of funding had a good the process or it will result in delays and transport objectives, sustainable transport geographical spread across England and challenges later. needs, economic and business cases, Wales and the five schemes covered Wales, passenger forecasts, revenue forecasts, the South West, East London, the Midlands In which locations are you looking to find planning requirements, project delivery, and Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire. new sites at the moment? What exciting procurement, station ownership, land New Stations are complex in that projects are you working on next? issues/ownership, and independent the stopping of services needs to be Until the bids arrive at DfT and are validation of the project. incorporated into the timetable which is considered, we may not know which sites not easy, due to the potential impact on or schemes promoters are putting forward. Who is responsible for the Environmental existing services. Introducing a new station In most cases, promoters do engage with Impact Assessments? can increase journey times for existing Network Rail in advance so they know the This would be down to the promoter of the customers and in extreme circumstances route studies and strategies that may affect scheme, which could be a local authority, could mean that an extra train or crew their ideas. At present Ilkeston station (near Network Rail, central government, the are required, which could make it Derby) is being built and the design for Greater London Authority or developers, uneconomical. With rail passenger numbers Kenilworth station (near Coventry) is in the rather than Network Rail itself. constantly rising, the massive demand and final stages. opportunity is recognised so the DfT need to u http://bit.ly/2d7M42W
4 Rail & Data supplement ROUTES
HS2: getting the route right
Route feasibility, data and land access, and EIA mapping are tricky issues to navigate. Paul Cruise, Associate Director, Arup, Nick Mitchard, Associate Director, Arup and Tammy Strong, Senior Engineer, Arup, explain how it’s done.
Would you mind taking us briefly through voluntary basis until the point that Royal how the route feasibility process works Assent is granted. Early access enables a from start to finish? baseline to be established in order to inform We work on behalf of HS2 to provide the design. Without these, we rely on desk guidance on the route feasibility process. based research to make informed decisions We start with an unconstrained brief, which are then reassessed when survey data working on the basis of drawing a “straight is available. line” between destinations, avoiding Once landowners have been identified major conurbations as a priority. We then and their permission has been granted, identify the environmental and topographic we work in line with their routines - for constraints such as rivers and valleys. We example farming patterns – and give them do this by working with the whole route visibility of our visits. The precise nature printed out in a series of 1:25000 Ordnance of this depends entirely on the needs and Survey maps which give a good balance wishes of the landowner. Our Land Access between detail and context. At this stage, team on Phase 2a consists of 10 people, local knowledge is very important in terms whose job it is to manage our relationships of what is actually in the places you are with landowners and ensure their views are planning to design the route through. considered. Then, route corridors are identified, If we can’t get access to carry out surveys, which may involve following the line of an we have to use our professional judgement existing transport corridor, or sections of to develop assumptions. If we can gain land which can accommodate long, straight access to neighbouring land, we might sections of track. We then undertake a extrapolate the data from that area to make high-level sift of all the options, looking an informed decision as to the nature of at environmental impact, cost, journey the land in question. This generally means times and constructability. The resulting we make allowance via precautionary options are then used to challenge the initial mitigation. If access is gained which means requirements – for example, one option may that these assumptions are correct, by be a minute or two outside the specified taking that approach we can simply remove journey time, but a good choice in respect those mitigation elements from the design, of the other criteria. From this, HS2 decides Mitigation Hierarchy – the first premise of rather than having to add them in. on a handful of options, with their relative which is to avoid causing any impact. Routes If we can’t gain access, we have to respect characteristics and merits presented for final should avoid internationally and regionally the landowner’s decision. If they indicate selection. The Secretary of State (in the case important places such as Sites of Special they may reconsider at a later stage then we of the UK) will then announce which route Scientific Interest, listed buildings and try again further down the line. will be consulted on. the like, as well as taking care to minimise We also prioritise land access requests After public consultation, a revised route disruption to local communities as much as depending on ecological considerations i.e. is published and both the preliminary possible. we look to carry out bat surveys during bat design and Environmental Impact To identify concerns before they arise, we season, or surveys on open spaces during Assessment are produced by consultants on undertake lots of desk based research. Some periods of use, in order to get the right level behalf of the client. surveys are undertaken, predominantly of baseline information. relating to noise. And importantly, we work Are environmental issues a major factor closely with local communities and use their What factors did you need to consider at this stage or is economic feasibility knowledge of the area to inform the route when conducting feasibility studies predominant? alignment. between Birmingham and Crewe (or Environmental and economic if not this route – publically available considerations are equal in terms of status. How have you addressed land access information)? What specific challenges One of the main activities is to identify issues in the past? To what extent do you did you face with this project? the ‘showstoppers’ – high level constraints need to get the public on side with what When we look at feasibility, we take a of any type that HS2 may decide put the you’re doing? number of factors into account. One of the feasibility of the route at risk. Public support is crucial to the success of key things is the local importance of sites We apply something called the a project. Land access is given on a purely Continued on page 6
Rail & Data supplement 5 ROUTES
Continued from page 5 Operational sound, noise and vibration example, aerial photography might reveal and their meaning to different groups such is controlled primarily at source, through deciduous woodland, which could be home as councils, local interest groups and the the design of the rolling stock and rail to species of interest such as bats or badgers. public. Some farmers and landowners may infrastructure. Where effects remain, This is effective in giving an indication require bridges or other structures to be put further interventions such as sound of the characteristics of a site, which in, in order for them to access and continue barriers, bunds and other architectural can then be followed up with a physical to work on their land. forms are employed in order to strike the investigation. It also allows these visits Also, as we go through the process balance between sustainability, stakeholder to be phased according to the nesting or of developing the design for HS2, more concerns and the nature of the railway hibernation patterns of those creatures. information comes to light and the itself. Where we’ve had occasionally had baseline level of information increases. We access issues from a health and safety point might come across landfill sites that need With respect to mapping data, how of view around watercourses, we have to be avoided, or environmentally sensitive mindful do you need to be of historical employed the use of kayaks to carry out locations will come to light. We are also land uses that aren’t mapped? otter and water vole surveys. constantly checking our information, for In terms of mapping data, HS2 sources a Remote cameras are deployed, but example, alignment work is done on the lot of the data for us. There are between permission is still required, which doesn’t basis of Ordnance Survey data, which is fine 1500 and 2000 layers of data depending circumvent land access issues. But cameras for that purpose, but we add a level of detail on location. Things like Ordnance Survey, are efficient in reducing the number of onto this in the form of LIDAR mapping environmental designation datasets, people needed for a survey and time spent which provides more detailed topographic LIDAR, aerial photography and utilities on the ground, typically being deployed to data and allows us to refine the design for information all feed into this. This monitor fauna movements. our client. involves a big checking exercise, as there When considering the different are occasionally some discrepancies in the How big of a challenge is it to work around engineering and structural interventions data. When this comes to light, we work heritage sites and wildlife conservation along the route, cost both in environmental with HS2 & the supplier to help them areas and ancient woodlands? and financial terms is a consideration. improve their data. These sites are treated as a priority, In that respect, focus is placed on Historical sites play a big part in the requiring close liaison with project construction logistics. Essentially we are nature of ground conditions. Our Land engineers to apply the Mitigation working on a long, linear project which Quality team look through old records to Hierarchy. The challenge with a high speed is an exercise in moving people, plant identify historical sites. Mining sites and line is that it essentially needs to be straight, and materials. It is crucial to understand old industrial locations such as tanneries so rather than changing the horizontal the amount of material involved and the are important, as they are associated with alignment, we look at ways of influencing routes to be taken to and from major roads, chemicals or pollutants that may have the vertical, with bridges, tunnels and to the construction site. There may be seeped into the ground. Abandoned and other structures. rivers, bridges or other roads in the way poorly documented old graveyards are Early optioneering helps avoid any and we must plan accordingly, as each a serious discovery for any project, not problems. On Phase 1, one example construction site may be in situ for around only with the ethical and compassionate was a couple of populations of rare bats five years. concerns they raise, but also practical species, where the route would impact on concerns in terms of undiscovered pockets their roosting and foraging habitats. The How important are sound, noise and of gas and air that may be present. proposed solution that was adopted by vibration issues? HS2 was a green bridge so they could move Sound, noise and vibration are key How do you make sure your data are between roosting and foraging sites. environmental considerations on any rail reliable? Where we have unavoidable impact, project. Stakeholders are concerned about Data is cross checked against old records, we look at measures to provide connectivity the effect on their communities, from aerial photography, library information, between severed areas of woodland. We also construction and then from operation online sources and tithe maps that look at options to enhance the condition of of the railway itself. The planning and sometimes date back to 1600’s. the remaining woodland, which sometimes Environmental Impact Assessment process has suffered from poor management and requires a traditional response to these What other innovative technologies do you is not especially diverse, so we can put questions in the shape of decibels and use for ground surveys? measures in place to improve it. technical information. Land access issues can arise in the case of Additionally, Arup has helped HS2 to not being able to get hold of a landowner, What are you working on at the moment, add a level of context to this information, refusal to grant access, or sites that pose a and what’s next? with our Arup SoundLab. It allows people potential health and safety concern if we Our work on HS2 continues, on Phase 1 to hear first-hand both what the new access them via conventional means, such and 2a as live projects, we are bidding on high-speed trains could sound like and the as quarries. the Phase 2b packages which if successful, impact of noise reduction measures along In cases where we have not been able to would involve a significant amount of the proposed route. gain access, we have undertaken habitat Environmental work. As a Rail Business we The benefit of SoundLab is that it mapping by converting aerial or satellite work globally, so colleagues in the UK work presents the information neutrally – people imagery into a habitat map for the area. on any type of Rail project from around the can then decide for themselves what they This then gives indication of the likelihood world, from Metros in Europe to Freight think and feel about what they hear. of a particular species being present. For projects in Australia.
6 Rail & Data supplement REGENERATION
The High-Speed juggle
Whether in South Yorkshire, Leeds, or Manchester, HS2 encounters a tricky mix of challenges. Eoin Redahan reports.
That headache. That weight right behind your brow. If your job is to plot a course for HS2, then it must never go away, for there are so many problems and almost no solutions that satisfy everyone. If you’re in Leeds city centre, you’ve got to analyse traffic data, think about how to integrate HS2 with local services, and even ponder matters of civic prestige. If you’re finding a site in the Sheffield area, you need to think about the people of Rotherham, navigate around industrial legacies, and incorporate the non-existent Northern Powerhouse Rail. Even if you’re in Manchester and your site is settled, you need to find out how to align the redevelopment of the station with the regeneration of the general area. Artist’s impressions of how the redeveloped Leeds Station could look
South Yorkshire – balancing the needs of in a densely urbanised part of Sheffield. out of the city would have meant boring a region However, even though the location met the several long tunnels to the south of the city. For those looking to plot a course for the transport demands for the eastern leg of The lack of space was also an issue, with the HS2, the south Yorkshire area has provided HS2, other factors made it far from ideal. HS2, NPR, and local services all having to many a hair-pulling moment, and there are Traffic congestion, the opening of a new be housed within the one station. And then a few strands to be tweaked yet. The problem IKEA store, other planned projects, and the there was the additional cost of this option: is building a station that serves the people substantial sum needed to demolish existing an extra £2bn. in Barnsley, Rotherham, Doncaster, and the buildings and compensate proprietors all Another alternative site was the disused Sheffield city centre area. Unfortunately, militated against the Meadowhall site. The mainline station in Victoria, though this on this eastern leg of HS2, no one location HS2 Independent Design Panel also voiced route would involve realigning 7km of benefits all areas equally. concerns about building a station on a existing railway with a tunnelled exit to Finding a site that can be integrated viaduct; the sheer scale of the proposed site; the north. The route would also involve within existing and future transport and air quality. disrupting local services for a considerable networks was also hard enough, and that The advantages of an alternative site in time, potentially have a negative impact on was before the Northern Powerhouse Rail Sheffield were tempting. Navigating another local historic buildings, and involve buying was factored into plans. course would open up the possibility nearby land to extend the width of the On top of these constraints, the of taking the main HS2 line through a station - all of which would increase costs by topography of South Yorkshire has also relatively less populated, geologically easier £700m. made it difficult to find a location for its route parallel to the M18. This would reduce In the end, the option that the report HS2 station. According to David Higgins, the overall cost, though it would also mean recommends resounds as something of a executive chairman of HS2, several aspects compromising the service to the wider area. hollow solution. This solution involves of the local environment make building Alternative options were put forward in physically separating the service to south a high-speed line in the area complex and Sheffield city centre. The first option was to Yorkshire from the route further north. costly: the hills on which Sheffield is built; divert the HS2 line into the Midland classic The HS2: Sheffield and South Yorkshire report the Porterbrook, Sheaf Don, and Dearne railway station in Sheffield city centre. This states: “That can be achieved by what is rivers and their floodplains; the industrial solution would better serve those in the city termed a classic compatible service – a legacy of mining and heavy industry; and centre area and Chesterfield, while being dedicated link taking high speed trains off the buildings that are an important part of well positioned to meet the NPR ambition of the main line and running up to two trains the area’s heritage. a 30-minute journey to Leeds. per hour into Sheffield on existing lines The original proposition was for a However, there were serious issues with while the main HS2 line continues to carry station in Meadowhall, which is well the aforementioned flood plains in the trains serving Leeds and further North.” connected to the main areas of regional area. City centre construction could cause According to the report, this means demand in Sheffield, Doncaster, Barnsley, significant disruption, project delays, and HS2 services would run into Sheffield and Rotherham and avoids construction increase cost, and building a new line in and Continued on page 8
Rail & Data supplement 7 REGENERATION
Continued from page 7 Two of the alternatives involved mobilise significant increases in Midland and they wouldn’t have to renovating the existing train station in development and regeneration value, as deal with the environmental impacts of Leeds. The first would have integrated the has recently been demonstrated with the building a dedicated high-speed station classic and high-speed operations on the improvements to London King’s Cross in a dense, urban environment or find a east of the station. However, there would and Birmingham New Street stations and way of providing a simple cross-platform have been insufficient space to build HS2 the impact they have had on regeneration interchange to link places and services across platforms, which would have meant cutting around them.” the city region while providing a faster back some regional services. Existing The intention is to house HS2, NPR, journey time between Sheffield and Leeds. services would also be affected for up to eight classic rail services, and shopping facilities Most significantly, this solution would save years during construction and it was also in the one area. The tram station will be about £1bn. suggested that the eastern approach could removed, along with parking spaces and have a negative impact on the surrounding some of the servicing in the archways, and Leeds city centre – finding the right environment and heritage. a more creative use will be made of the land entrance The final option involved incorporating beneath the station. When it comes to finding a location for the HS2 facilities onto the south side of “By integrating the space below existing the HS2 station in Leeds, the problems are the station. According to the Yorkshire and new planned platforms, it may be quite different. Those planning the station Hub report, this would also facilitate NPR possible to create a new concourse and don’t need to contend with region-wide services, provide easy connectivity with ‘destination experience’ whilst also linking challenges, but the new station must still existing rail services and pedestrian access to the site through to its surroundings on the slot into the city-scape and encourage the the South Bank regeneration area. north and south at ground level,” Arup regeneration of the South Bank area. That said, the new high-speed platforms states. Like Sheffield, the proposed plan for Leeds would have to cross the River Aire and The NPR rail services will lie in the station was reviewed. The original proposal environmental assessments would have subterranean level, while a Grand Arcade for a site in New Lane ticked all the boxes to be carried out to determine the effect will be built below the HS2 and classic rail from a route perspective, but it was seen as building could have on flood prevention viaducts (see image below). This Grand too detached from the city centre. From schemes and the river habitat. In the end, Arcade, which will comprise 20,000m² of a planning perspective, the site also had this option was seen as the best alternative floor space, will allow for pedestrian flow in capacity limitations on the eastern route for connectivity and its capacity to stimulate all directions and retail development. thereby ruling out options such as double development in the South Bank and According to Arup, new station entrances decking and tunnelling. waterfront in general. have been used in both Japan and Hong The basic requirements of the new HS2 Kong to spread development value and station are considerable. It has to include: Manchester – rejogging on the spot raise capital for railway companies. As it a common concourse for passengers; easy The redevelopment of Manchester stands, connection from Piccadilly station access to the city centre, the South Bank Piccadilly station faces a similar, if slightly is poor; as such the station will be altered to and the waterfront; be a properly integrated less complicated, solution as it welcomes improve access from all sides. transport hub for the region; allow sufficient HS2 into it its transport mix. It, too, will The required lengthening of the HS2 capacity for the Northern Powerhouse and play a central role in regenerating 140 acres platforms mean it should be possible to HS3 initiatives; and become a major national of underdeveloped industrial land east and create new entrances on the north eastern landmark. south of the station, but much of this is sides of the station, which would ensure One option was to build a new station centred around the idea of the station as a that the station is accessible from all sides. south of the river to become a catalyst for the central hub in a manner similar to St Pancras It is hoped that the increased permeability redevelopment of the South Bank area and station in North London. and redevelopment work will combine to provide extra car parking. However, it was Arup’s Manchester Piccadilly Station make Manchester Piccadilly a destination debunked as it was too isolated from the city Options Assessment noted that: “Effectively in its own right. Whether all of this comes centre core and existing services. designed transport interchanges can to pass remains to be seen.
Northern hub Existing station Station atrium HS2 Boulevard
Retail undercroft
Picadilly superhub
8 Rail & Data supplement 3D MAPPING
Decoding Crossrail
For Crossrail to work, Malcolm Taylor and his colleagues needed to create a common data environment. Eoin Redahan spoke to Crossrail’s Head of Technical Information about the challenge of creating a virtual railway.
The babelfish is a little yellow creature that slips into your ear. Once inside, it helps you understand every language in the universe. This creature belongs only in Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, so why did Malcolm Taylor mention it when talking about Crossrail? Well, the Crossrail project comprises many people from disparate backgrounds. There are 30 different advanced works contractors, 25 main design consultants, and more than 60 construction contractors. There are also future maintenance workers from Network Rail, London Underground, and DLR – each of whom uses different terms to say the same thing. For this project to work, everyone would need to speak the same language; in other words, Crossrail needed to create its own version of the babelfish – a common data environment.
Marrying the data Crossrail beneath Liverpool Street station “In the information world, one of the biggest challenges with the interoperability have sometimes slipped through the net, reliable data? How do you create an of data transfer is people don’t specify thinking that doing things in 2D can be image that captures all the goings-on what they want,” Taylor says. “If you quicker, faster and cheaper, but we live in a beneath the ground? To get an accurate had six different contractors using six 3D world so we should be designing space reading, Crossrail’s engineers use different pieces of software for document [and objects] in 3D. detailed topographical and laser surveys management, we’d get documents in six “If I were just designing a flagpole or a to understand the built environment completely different ways.” garden shed, 2D is probably all I would need, environment better and ground radar for the To avoid this confusion, Taylor and his but once you get into the complexity of work underground. However, non-intrusive colleagues devised a system to shepherd the trying to build boxes 250m long, 40m deep, ground radar will only tell them what’s data into one place. For this complicated and 25 wide in the middle of London, you’ve going on to a depth of a few metres. After situation, they found a simple problem: got to be working in 3D.” that they do as their forbears did; they dig a British standard BS1192, a standard Eventually, however, everyone conformed hole. that establishes a process to manage the and what was strange became habitual. They’ve also set up an automated system collaborative production of architectural, “It means everyone is working in the same to monitor ground movement from engineering, and construction information. systems and using that single same single above, using satellites that detect slight From the outset, they decided to be source of truth for the most up-to-date data. movements in 120,000 reflectors winking prescriptive. “We said to everybody that you [We have] very simple, straightforward around the capital. All of this is crucial to must use our CAD system,” he says. “When processes for sharing information between the cause; because when a giant tunnel it came to general information, GIS and the those different professionals.” he adds. boring machine swallows the earth beneath like – everyone needs to use our Crossrail To Taylor and his colleagues, getting some of the most expensive real estate in information systems.” the reliable data is as important as the mix the world, you need to know about every The move towards a common data of concrete right on site. Mix it right and twitch in the ground. To put the scale of the environment was a “little bit of a pain” for reliable and consistent; mix it wrong and the excavations in perspective, Taylor likened it the supply chain initially. The challenge, whole affair could become a sloppy mess. to laying Canary Wharf Tower on its side and as ever, was to convince people to move pushing it underground. with change. “We wanted Crossrail fully Creating the virtual railway “Monitoring ground movements over coordinated in 3D,” he explains. “People So how do they go about gathering Continued on page 10
Rail & Data supplement 9 3D MAPPING
Continued from page 9 time has been critical,” he says. “We have a London’s underground stories geographical information system (GIS) that Sending a tunnel underneath London is a complicated matter. There is the small matter of looks at the number of places that we’ve subsidence, and then there all the secret basements people built without planning permission. got instrumentation, so we’re trying to pick There is also the all-too-familiar east-west divide. up information about what the ground “Everything to the west of Farringdon is in clay and it’s all lovely to bore tunnels through,” conditions are, particularly as we’re building Taylor says. “Everything from Farringdon eastwards is in alluvial silts and wet and a the tunnels under these very sensitive completely different tunnelling ball game… The problem with gravels and the sands is that buildings. We needed to be able to manage the foundation types in the buildings of the east – because the ground is poor - are piles, the settlements and make sure the ground and they can go very deep into the ground. When we were doing advanced works, we had to settlements are kept within tolerable levels. knock down a few buildings and pull out some of these piles as well.” We spend several hundred [million] pounds While the land towards the west is better for tunnelling, engineers must be mindful of on ground treatment works just to stop the the spaghetti-like tangle of tube lines – the strata of which tell their own tale of the capital. ground from settling as much as it could “For London Underground, generally what happens is that to get underneath London you go have done.” deeper. The underground station at Bank is a wonderful example of that. You can tell which When Taylor and his colleagues are line came next because you’ve got the District and Circle at the top; you’ve got the Central finished, they will leave behind a network of line next; you’ve got the Northern line [after that], and then you’ve got the DLR. As you go 7m-wide tunnels and a virtual railway that along you just get deeper. gives a detailed picture of everything they’ve [There are] different types of problems in different places,” Taylor adds, “but it’s all part of done. It is a painstaking, rigorous process; the tapestry.” but it must be that way, as a single small error in any of the as-built models could cost millions of pounds. Crossrail’s excavations metre was a pretty tight tolerance for a 7m meeting where somebody talked about the at Tottenham Court Road Station provide an tunnel-boring machine to squeeze through. complexity of the 3D models because they example of just how important it is to have a You’ve got to be very comfortable you know were modelling every single cable in a whole precise picture of the goings-on beneath. where everything is, and how it will behave series of control cables. I just said to them, “One of the problems we had at and it worked.” ‘why? You don’t need to do that. You only Tottenham Court Road was that we had to need to use the level of detail for the decision go above the existing Northern line and The data selection you need to make.’ Instead of creating a feed through an interesting gap,” Taylor There is, however, a difference between model with every single cable, I’d just create says. “You’ve got to know where all that having sufficient data to do a job and having a model with a rectangular space in which all existing infrastructure is, and how to thread too much unnecessary information. Taylor the cables sit.” that tunnel through the gap. If you don’t, emphasises the need to have good quality Of course, there are occasions when you end up having to push the tunnel information to make good quality decisions, different professionals need different probably another 10m down, which [means] but he is also at pains to point out that there information on the same area. One of construction goes up by another £100-200m is no point in creating data if you’re never the advantages of having a multi-faceted at least to be able to deal with that depth…. going to use it. CDM system is the ability to have simple Going above the Northern line by 83cm and “There is a tendency sometimes to collect representations, but also the data behind underneath their escalator by about half a too much information,” he says. “I had a them if necessary. “We’ve actually had to extend our GIS into what we call a spatial data infrastructure,” Taylor says. “It allows us to use the GIS itself not just to map data but actually [show] lots of other information that includes 3D models and information from our other database that houses all our documentation. “You can go into the GIS, click on a station, and pull up a 3D model. You can click on a room in that model, and then in another click you can then pull out all of the assets that sit in that room. So what you’ve got are three big databases joining up: the GIS database, the 3D modelling database, and the information database. They’re all joined up and in three or four clicks you’re able to pull out all of the assets in a room or in a station.” Up until relatively recently, if a worker wanted to find, let’s say a small transformer in an equipment room, they would have to pull out a lever arch file containing station Tottenham Court Road station civil structure BIm image maps and sift through them to find the
10 Rail & Data supplement 3D MAPPING
relevant drawing. The aim of the Crossrail Above: Farringdon station system is to do the same thing only far, far BIM image quicker. “By being to pull out all the assets in a Right: Bond Street Station room in 10 seconds compared to half an showing underground hour, we’ve not changed why people are structures wanting to do things,” says Taylor. “In, fact, we’ve not changed what they want. They Below: Bond Street station want to know what assets you’ve got in that – diagram of station particular room, but what we’ve changed structure with this technology is being incredibly more efficient. We can do it in a fraction of the time by using joined-up databases. It enables you to go back to the original purpose of data to be much more efficient at making decisions.” That is not to say they have reached their destination yet. The path up to this point has not been paved easily and they bear many battle scars from harsh lessons learned. Nevertheless, the pains endured during the creation of the virtual railway will serve them well when it comes to operating the service and honing the process ahead of upcoming projects such as Crossrail Line 2 and HS2. “It’s about using information as a valuable resource,” Taylor says. “If you look after it and nurture it, then it will always be good for you.”
Augmented reality underneath the ground, workers don’t need to rifle through maps of 2D The world of augmented reality is playing an increasingly important role illustrations. An accurate representation of what the eye cannot see is in on-site decision-making. So how exactly does it work? Taylor explains, right there on the screen. “It’s the process of taking a 3D model out of our database, making it “That’s what we’re trying to do – to bring that 3D world into use,” he a little bit simpler, and superimposing that model over a view of the adds. “We’ve found that some of the problems we call change orders physical world. So, in some of our stations, we can walk around using are reduced by at least 10% because people are seeing how things fit, our tablets and pull out the 3D model to see where some of the ducts and you can see problems well in advance of people cutting and doing and cable runs should go.” things. So you can go and change them before that. People turn that By getting a 3D picture of what’s going on behind a wall, panel, or virtual world into the physical world.”
Rail & Data supplement 11 www.groundsure.com
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