In accordance with the municipal government's deployments on accelerating BIM application and speeding up the construction of a pioneer city of digital twins, Shenzhen Metro Group has implemented a regular special promotion mechanism, continuously improved the BIM technical standards system, and constantly strengthened BIM technology application.

Shenzhen Metro Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Shenzhen Metro Group"), as the main force in the construction and operation of rail transit in Shenzhen, has in recent years, through systematic, standardized and normalized promotion of BIM technology application across the entire group, fully completed BIM modeling for the 15 existing metro lines under its jurisdiction in terms of operating metro lines, becoming the first rail transit enterprise in China to achieve BIM for metro operating lines across the entire city; in terms of new construction projects, BIM technology has been fully adopted in Phase IV and Phase IV adjustment projects of the metro, Phase V projects of the metro, 4 intercity railway lines, and 12 real estate projects.

Multiple Measures Taken for Coordinated Promotion

To improve the design and construction quality of metro construction, enhance the digitalization and refinement level of engineering project management, and reduce construction costs, Shenzhen Metro Group began exploring BIM in 2012. After 11 years of accumulation, it has built a business model of "independent operation + joint implementation + external brain support," promoting full-cycle BIM application from point to area, from area to line, and from line to three-dimensional surface. The main measures include:

Drawing the Blueprint — In 2019, the expert group led by Academician Ding Lieyun reviewed and approved the "Shenzhen Metro BIM Application Development Master Plan"; in 2020, the expert group composed of Academician Guo Renzhong and Academician Chen Xiangsheng reviewed and approved the "Shenzhen Metro Digital Transformation Plan," deeply integrating BIM technology into the digital transformation planning and construction.

Building the System — A "1+1+N" comprehensive BIM system has now been established, deeply integrating BIM technology with rail transit business and forming a full-life-cycle BIM application solution. A total of 59 national, industry, local and enterprise BIM standards and specifications have been edited or co-edited.

Establishing Mechanisms — Clarifying the contractual mechanism for BIM application; establishing regular meeting and reporting systems; establishing assessment and performance evaluation mechanisms; strengthening training for all staff; and piloting the application of domestic BIM modeling software in survey and construction.

Strengthening the Team — The BIM team of Shenzhen Metro Group has grown from 10 people to the current 140-person professional BIM team, 300-person BIM designer team and 90-person business team, with specialties covering all business areas.

Expanding R&D — Taking key issues as the entry point, Shenzhen Metro Group has organized technical research and independently developed 12 products including the BIM technology application platform, urban transportation big data platform, and survey management platform, obtaining 28 BIM-related intellectual property rights. The BIM platform has accumulated about 1.146 million logins, with about 1,000 daily active users. It has participated in technical research on domestic modeling engines and actively promoted the application of domestic software such as Railworks and Bingmu.

Cultivating the Ecosystem — As the overall lead unit for project BIM, it has built a BIM ecosystem involving 155 partners and 1,300 participants.

Ensuring Security — Shenzhen Metro Group organically integrates management, technology and operations to form a "three-in-one" three-dimensional defense system. By encrypting BIM models and conducting 7x24 inspections of the BIM platform, it ensures BIM data security.

Establishing Models to Consolidate the Foundation

Shenzhen Metro Group has cumulatively created more than 8,800 BIM models, entered 21,000 BIM components into the database, and accumulated 65 TB of digital assets, providing basic data support for BIM application in 39 business scenarios across the full life cycle.

BIM reverse modeling for operating metro lines: Following the management process of "drawing collection — model creation — model acceptance — model modification — model review — model release," Shenzhen Metro Group coordinates task division, clarifies responsible entities, and has retroactively checked a total of about 8,000 volumes of engineering materials, reviewed 8,500 process models, and eliminated 56 common issues of as-built model consistency. At the same time, according to the needs of operation and maintenance business, it further improves the modeling precision of BIM models, laying a data foundation for smart operation and maintenance.

BIM forward design modeling for new projects: Starting from the Phase IV metro project, Shenzhen Metro Group has established BIM models for various stages of rail transit around actual business needs and comprehensively promoted BIM technology application, continuously accumulating digital assets such as rail transit engineering, buildings and structures, geology, and underground pipelines. At the same time, it has independently developed a BIM review tool to conduct automated review of models, improving review efficiency by more than 80% and ensuring BIM model quality.

Active Exploration to Empower Business

Empowerment at the planning stage: Through the GIS base and surrounding environment, three-dimensional integration of above-ground and underground space is carried out, and BIM technology is used to deduce the feasibility of the overall line planning scheme.

　Line deduction for Phase II of Line 7

Empowerment at the survey and design stage: Combining drilling data with BIM technology to create three-dimensional geological models along the metro line; promoting BIM forward design, pioneering three-dimensional atlases in the rail transit field, studying three-dimensional expression, assisting design scheme presentation, and guiding on-site construction. The forward design drawing rate for the main buildings and structures of rail projects has reached 90%.

Three-dimensional atlas

Empowerment at the construction stage: BIM technology is applied in complex node detailing, pipeline integration, construction simulation, schedule and investment management, quality and safety control, prefabricated stations, prefabricated equipment rooms, etc., promoting smart construction site development. For example, with the help of BIM technology, the demolition of the 1.5-kilometer-long Huangmugang hub overpass took only 9 days; in the civil engineering stage, precise design, production and assembly of prefabricated components were achieved, saving one-quarter to one-third of the construction period; in the equipment installation stage, the "zero processing" mode of direct on-site assembly was adopted, saving 30 days of construction period.

Construction simulation of Huangmugang overpass demolition

Empowerment at the completion and handover stage: QR codes are used to associate and bind equipment with models, practicing digital handover of BIM models. The four lines totaling 128 kilometers and three major hubs opened in 2022 comprehensively promoted digital handover.

Digital handover of equipment models

Empowerment at the operation stage: BIM models are integrated with operation business systems, integrating data on in-station service facilities, equipment, pipelines, passenger flow, cameras, etc., and developing application scenarios such as station management, operation and maintenance management, passenger flow analysis, commercial management, and property management, realizing three-dimensional visualization of facilities and equipment and precise control of operation and maintenance.

Operation and maintenance management

Empowerment in emergency management: The BIM platform is combined with the emergency command system to assist daily training and emergency drills. Through BIM-based emergency plans, remote command and on-site response are linked, improving emergency response capabilities.

Emergency management

Empowerment in metro security zone management: Information such as cameras, hectometer markers, and risk sources within the security zone, as well as the real-time locations of patrol personnel, are integrated into the BIM platform to assist comprehensive risk assessment and accurate dispatch for emergencies.

Security zone management

In the future, Shenzhen Metro Group will continue to deepen the full-life-cycle BIM solution, continuously iterate and upgrade BIM technical capabilities, tap the potential of BIM application scenarios, activate the potential of data elements, shape a digital twin metro, and integrate into the construction of Shenzhen as a digital pioneer city and smart city.