High-speed line through the Swabian Alb

Project

The Austrian railway specialists Rhomberg Bahntechnik and Swietelsky AG (ARGE BSA) have won the contract for track construction and railway engineering equipment for the new line from Wendlingen to Ulm. Part of the approximately €250 million contract is the construction of approx. 118 kilometres of slab track, including over 60 kilometres of tunnels, 16 points and the installation of telecommunications and traction power systems. The construction project is part of the Stuttgart-Ulm rail project and will almost halve the journey time in long-distance traffic from Ulm to Stuttgart from 54 minutes to 28 minutes. The high-speed trains will reach a speed of up to 250 km/h.

Challenges

thinkproject supports the ARGE not only with document, photo and defect management but also with a plan release or inspection run. The client Deutsche Bahn, however, uses EPLASS as an internal Common Data Environment system for plan approval. Initially, this meant for the project team that all plans had to be manually transferred to EPLASS after a plausibility check. The aim was to connect these two systems in order to simplify and thus accelerate the complicated and labour-intensive exchange of plans.

Solutions

thinkproject meets the digital transformation with open standards and connectivity to other systems. The so-called Business Connector enables the extension of test processes via the internet and the integration to various systems. By using the open thinkproject-technology an interface to EPLASS (building owner system) could be created. The Connector includes a bidirectional communication. This means that a data transfer takes place in both directions. All plans that have reached a certain process step are automatically sent to EPLASS. If the plan has reached a status maturity (released, rejected), it is sent back to thinkproject. Thus the checking process happens fluently and without additional effort.

Testimonial

In large projects, the digital cooperation of Client and Contractor and the connection of different system worlds is essential for a common and successful project flow.

Outcome

In addition to enormous savings in time and money, this form of cooperation ensures high user acceptance. In this way, the users work in their familiar environment, so there is no need for a lot of familiarisation.

In addition, the communication and documentation of the respective partners can always be kept in view due to comprehensive monitoring functions. This ensures smooth operations between the client and the consortium.

Facts & Figures

• 118 kilometres of slab track
• 9 tunnels
• 40 railway and road overpasses
• 250 million euro construction volume

Customer

Rhomberg Bahntechnik GmbH is part of the Rhomberg Sersa Rail Group, also based in Austria, and as a full-service provider offers an almost complete range of services in the areas of railway construction, equipment and service.

Swietelsky AG has 70 years of continuous experience in track construction, making it one of the leading railway construction companies in Europe, operating worldwide.