REGISTER

Luke Smith, A.D. Cart., A.D. CE., P.G. Dip GIS.

Member Permanent Way Institute Qld. Spatial & Information Solutions Division, Technical Services Group, QR.

Typical methodologies for railway signal design in QR involve simple and disparate two dimensional plan and section style design. Each engineering discipline in the project documents designs in an autonomous manner arid the integration of the data sets is typically limited. For the purpose of safe-working railway systems and efficient design practices, it is put forward that a method of combining the discipline data sets in a three-dimensional (3D) visual construct be performed as a method of better determining the placement of railway signals.

To determine the usefulness of combining data sets in a 3D manner, a model of a suspected signal sighting problem area was constructed and used as a pilot project to assess the effectiveness of this method.

A 3D flythrough visualization was created to help identify any areas of safe-working concern, and to act as a method of quality control on the initial concept design.

The results confirm that this method is capable of detecting and clarifjring areas of concern but is in some ways limited in its capabilities. Signal systems at close distances can be successfully reviewed but limitations occur when signal sightings for safe working are required at larger distances.