Last week, BIM Forums 2024 brought together professionals to exchange insights and advancements in Building Information Modeling (BIM). Alongside our usual discussions on all things BIM, we delved into the results of the BIM benchmarking survey (BIM skaitīšana 2024), which tracks trends across various industries. These insights spurred me to reflect on Rail Baltica’s own transformation over the past five years. Looking back to 2019, we were just beginning to incorporate BIM into our processes – a time of exploration and steep learning. Since then, we have made remarkable strides, evolving from those foundational steps into a more advanced and integrated approach to digitalization.
Over the past five years, the Rail Baltica project has seen significant development. It is expected that by the end of this year, construction will cover approximately 15% of the mainline across the Baltics. In Estonia, work will begin on nearly 70 kilometers of track this year, which represents one-third of the route in the country. The construction of the first phase of the Ülemiste passenger terminal in Tallinn is also progressing. In Latvia, an international tender has selected the contractor for more than 200 kilometers of mainline construction, and work will soon begin on the section from Iecava toward Lithuania. The most visible construction work is taking place at the future Rail Baltica Riga Central Station and RIX Riga Airport Station. Significant progress has also been made in Lithuania, where construction is underway on a 29-kilometer stretch, with plans to expand this to 70 kilometers by the end of the year, including the construction of one of the most complicated structures of Rail Baltica – the bridge over the Neris River.
As the project has progressed, its digitalization processes have also significantly improved. We have gained considerable experience in implementing, understanding, and adapting BIM, GIS, and asset registry systems. We have worked closely with mainline designers across all three Baltic countries, as well as with the designers and construction companies of point objects (stations, terminals, etc.), to understand how best to implement meaningful digitalization processes. I can confidently say that our vision and understanding of BIM and other digital processes, which we had in 2019, have evolved and improved over the past five years. For example, the role of GIS in our strategy has become particularly important. This has been a complex process that has developed both organically and purposefully, in terms of human resources and technology. I am not afraid to admit that there have been mistakes, from which I believe we have learned. Along with these mistakes, we have also accumulated significant experience that we can use as we move forward with project implementation.
As the Rail Baltica project transitions from design to active construction, we continue to learn, especially now that we are working with BIM as-built documentation and striving to make it meaningful. This presents a new and different challenge: how to organize information so that it can be used in the future for infrastructure management, and how we can achieve this with modern processes and tools. GIS plays an invaluable role here.
We consistently find that, partners with a strong understanding and experience in BIM are those we can trust. We are confident that digitalization requirements will be met, potential issues will be discussed, and the partner will come up with solutions rather than complaints. This is reflected in BIM benchmarking results, which show a significant increase in the engagement of experienced partners over the past five years – a very positive trend in the market. It demonstrates that BIM is becoming an integral part of the construction process, rather than a side effect or a customer’s whim.
The benchmarking results also show that companies increasingly value the role of the BIM manager in a project (14% of respondents in 2019 compared to 43% this year). This indicates that successful implementation of digitalization processes requires qualified specialists where this is their primary responsibility, rather than just a formality or a “check-the-box” title.
At the same time, unfortunately, the benchmarking results indicate that the overall level of BIM competence in the industry remains low, with less than a quarter of respondents considering it sufficient. This suggests that the industry still has a long way to go to achieve its digitalization goals. However, the good news is that the trend is positive, and we are moving in the right direction.
Just as I believed five years ago, I remain confident that the Rail Baltica project will influence the industry and its approach to digitalization and the opportunities it offers. Our goal is for the Rail Baltica project to be driven by experienced and digitally enthusiastic professionals who will help us collectively achieve the future creation of Rail Baltica’s digital twin.