The Relevance of LOD Standards in Railway Projects

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As a community of Autodesk industry professionals, we are all familiar with LOD (Level of Detail) standards that have been established and implemented in the building industry for years. While these standards vary in their specifics, they generally involve adding geometric detail to the model in order to sufficiently detail the design of any created asset. However, as we consider the application of these standards to railway projects, we must question whether this level of detail is truly necessary or relevant for all aspects of such projects.

For example, let's consider the asset of sleepers. While it may be important to validate the minimum required ballast square around each sleeper to ensure proper positioning and repositioning by tamping machines, modeling 5km of identical sleepers may not be essential. Instead, knowing the sleeper spacing, configuration, and quantity of sleepers may be the only core dimensions necessary for km/miles of track. Of course, there may be areas where complex turnout connections require detailed sleeper and long sleeper positioning and for communication and simulation purposes, but the question remains: why mandate this level of detail in BIM projects for every meter/yard of every track?

Perhaps a more pragmatic approach would be to identify the areas where this level of detail is necessary and ensure that our general design methods are able to support automated detailing processes. By doing so, we can maximize efficiency and minimize unnecessary modeling efforts.

As a community, we invite your thoughts and experiences on the relevance and application of LOD standards in railway projects.