This week, after an exhausting 32 hour journey from Dallas (thank you #BA punctual as ever!) I find myself back in the familiar surroundings of Dubai, UAE. This time, arriving to the headline of $350bn of major rail projects currently under way in the Middle East, for what claims to be the largest of event of its kind in the region, Middle East Rail 2016.
Organised by Terrapinn and running from the 8th to 9th March at the Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre, I’ve personally seen #MERail grow from a conference for 80 delegates and 8 exhibitors ten years ago to now, a tradeshow promising in excess of 300 exhibitors, and conference attracting government departments, railway owners and construction companies alike.
Experience tells me that while attendees are all eager to hear updates on existing and proposed projects, they also want to gain a better understanding of industry best practice from around the world, in order to learn how the railways of tomorrow planned or under construction in the region can benefit. Therefore, in addition to exhibiting on Booth F22 within the 800m2 UK Pavilion, I will use my presentation at 13:30 on March 8th in The Network Rail Consulting Infrastructure Theatre, to highlight how Bentley is helping the worlds railway community increase productivity, reduce cost, and mitigate risk.
In previous years I’ve spoken about Bentley’s BIM Advancements empowering AEC professionals work more quickly, more accurately and more cost effectively. However, as the rail industry continues to use BIM processes to tackle project delivery challenges, I believe owner operators should also be looking ahead to those they will face when operating and maintaining rail infrastructure assets upon completion. As a result, my focus this year will be on how companies like Network Rail are using Bentley software to enable better decisions in the office and the field.
At the heart of Network Rail’s Linear Asset Decision Support system, LADS for short, is Optram, a decision support tool that enables proactive management of railway assets, providing railway executives, maintenance managers, engineers and field staff with a consolidated source of asset information. LADS is clearly improving the way Network Rail works, with the objective of achieving substantial cost savings by the end of March 2019 by targeting the right work, in the right place, at the right time!
For more information, please visit: www.bentley.com/rail
https://youtu.be/SYpXn4cFHe4