What’s HappeningNewsAmbitious Subway Growth Project Streamlined with Bentley Systems’ Solutions

Ambitious Subway Growth Project Streamlined with Bentley Systems’ Solutions

January 17, 2025

TAC Sponsor Spotlight Article – Bentley

Project Overview:

The Infrastructure Ontario, along with regional transportation agency Metrolinx, worked on the Ontario Line, an ambitious new subway line in Toronto that will help radically transform public commutes and transit across the city. It consists of 15.6 kilometres of new railway infrastructure and 15 new stations linking low-income and underserved communities with the heart of downtown Toronto. When complete, the Ontario Line is expected to accommodate nearly 400,000 daily boardings and take 28,000 cars off the road, saving 7.2 million litres of fuel annually. Working together as a combined technical advisor, Mott MacDonald with HDR, Stantec, Systra, and Comtech had to efficiently manage and share reliable data across multiple contracted organizations to stay on schedule.

Credit: Mott MacDonald and HDR

Early on, this innovative partnership team decided on their digital project delivery strategy to improve data sharing and the ability to access the right data at the right time. The team used iTwins to provide quick, web-based access, while ProjectWise served as the connected data environment. SYNCHRO and Bentley LumenRT helped improve 4D modeling and visualization capabilities, improving communication with the team and third-party stakeholders. ProjectWise reduced time to access files by 50% while also saving 15 hours per week in checking and reporting file status. By using SYNCHRO, the team was 60% more efficient with their constructability and scheduling meetings.

Client Needs:

  • The Greater Toronto and Hamilton area is the fastest-growing metropolitan area in North America. Metrolinx needed to not only build and open 15 new stations connected by nearly 16 kilometres of track, but also minimize disruption to existing transit and road networks and account for 19,000 deliverables already issued with 28 separate but interrelated contracts.
  • With a mega budget of $9 billion, voters and government scrutiny on overruns and accountability could become a major headache.

Challenges:

  • Metrolinx had to understand and mitigate risks with a lens on competitiveness and
  • The project required effectively managing and sharing reliable data across multiple contracted organizations, including covering utility relocations, ventilation, fire safety and mechanical and electrical systems, traction power supply, signaling, communication, and control systems. It also included the development of transit-oriented communities surrounding stations.
  • As part of their work, they needed to establish document and sharing requirements for testing, commissioning, and operation, plus future monitoring and reporting.
  • The project site posed subsurface constraints specific to the area’s climate and geology, with past glaciation and ongoing tectonic activity putting the shale under significant stress. This stress is released during excavation, causing fragmentation.
  • Stakeholders requested visibility into the project and the impact of its construction on local communities.
Credit: Mott MacDonald and HDR

Solutions:

  • The joint venture realized that they had the opportunity to further digital transformation in Canada by using practices such as BIM, GIS, 5D modeling, and reality mesh visualizations.
  • Utilizing ProjectWise, powered by iTwin, they established a connected data environment, providing the basis for creating a digital twin.
  • Mott MacDonald mobilized a specialist modeling team from their office in Madrid to develop detailed computational models of rock jointing. This analysis defined the rock’s propensity to relax and deform when mined, as well as the extent to which it may fracture and collapse.
  • By adopting SYNCHRO and Bentley LumenRT, they improved 4D modeling and visualization capabilities, resulting in clear information to stakeholders and residents. Detailed 3D models of the project’s spatial configuration and its progression over time were created to illustrate the step-by-step This approach has made technically complex information accessible to non-engineers, from city hall to community groups.

Key Outcomes:

  • Open collaboration: An open digital twin platform enables collaboration, bringing together engineering, enterprise and operational data, above and below ground, in a geospatial context and at scale, to improve infrastructure delivery and performance across the lifecycle.
  • Enhanced efficiencies: The time needed to access files was reduced by 50% due to ProjectWise, and they saved 15 hours per week in reporting file status.
  • Improved communications: By using SYNCHRO, teams became 60% more efficient with their constructability and scheduling meetings.
Credit: Mott MacDonald and HDR

Key Community Benefits:

  • 227,500 more people within walking distance of rapid transit.
  • 47,000 jobs made commutable within a 45-minute trip time.
  • 400,000 trips per day while removing 28,000 cars from roadways.
  • 16 kilometres of new track.
  • Rail support for the expected population growth of over 4 million within the next 20 years.

The Impact:

“Bentley products and services are fundamental to our delivery of the Ontario Line programme—tools such as ProjectWise, iTwin, and SYNCHRO are providing unparalleled access to, control over, and insight into data shared by our project team.”
Cameron Shaefer
Transportation Digital Delivery & Data Acquisition Director, HDR

Thanks to Bentley for being a TAC sponsor. Learn more about the company by reading its sponsor profile or at www.bentley.com.