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Rail Baltica is a project that has been floated since at least the early 1990s, a futuristic fantasy of a continent fully connected by railways. Now well into the 21st century, this dream is becoming a reality. Rail Baltica is a wide-reaching railway project jointly financed by the European Union, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

With about 870 kilometers of tracks and more than 400 new bridge structures, this infrastructure project is highly ambitious in scope. It is also a greenfield project, meaning that it lacks any constraints imposed by prior work. The enterprising and progressive attributes of this project make it a perfect undertaking for the implementation of BIM, a data-centric approach to design that’s helping to make the AEC industry more efficient and forward-thinking. Read on for more information. 

The Usefulness of BIM for the AEC Industry 

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is bringing the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry into the modern age. Part of a larger trend towards digital construction and data-centric approaches to engineering, BIM can make AEC projects more efficient, cost-effective, and streamlined. A BIM approach can be used to design and document a variety of different building and infrastructure projects, including projects like the Rail Baltica extension. 

Using BIM, immersive and highly detailed 3D models of projects can be developed and used to facilitate more intelligent design and planning. BIM fosters effective and informational document management, coordination, and simulation. Every detail of a project can be modelled by graduates of BIM college to facilitate progressive analysis. This all leads to smarter, more efficient data-driven approaches that make projects collaborative and enable them to keep up with the global demands of a shifting, competitive world. 

An Introduction to the Rail Baltica Project for Those Interested in BIM Training

The Rail Baltica project is am ambitious attempt to integrate the Baltic states into the extensive European rail network. The states of Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, and Finland have been unfortunately isolated from the rest of Europe by a set of poor railway lines that are in dire need of an upgrade. This long-anticipated infrastructure project will connect the cities of Helsinki, Tallinn, Parnu, Riga, Panevezys, Kaunas, Vilnius, and Warsaw. 

The scope of the project is difficult to conceptualize. It’s the largest infrastructure project within this region for the last century, and the construction period is slated to last about 10 years. The size of it isn’t the only ambitious part. It’s technologically-savvy and outfitted for a progressive world, with an environmentally friendly design that’s completely powered by electricity, and a placement that avoids protected areas. It also relies on professionals with BIM training for its success. 

How BIM Is Helping the Rail Baltica Project Succeed 

BIM is integrated into the design and construction process of the Rail Baltica project to make the enterprising project more efficient and forward-thinking. The developers have established that using BIM, under the guidance of trained professionals with a BIM technician certificate, will increase the efficiency of public spending, facilitate the participation of smaller stakeholders, and foster a greater amount of research and innovation. 

BIM is being used to help the Rail Baltica project run more efficiently 

BIM is being used to help the Rail Baltica project run more efficiently

BIM is used to develop and implement extensive documentation and templating, which help make the project more data-driven. An open data approach is used to ensure efficient information transfer between different stakeholders and groups. All information is stored in a central database that will be used throughout the full operating period of the project, and the main exchange format is in a type that is translatable between all software programs. All information is created and organized in the same way, so it’s intelligible throughout the different disciplines and design companies. All these aspects make this enormous project run in a streamlined, time- and labour-saving way. 

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