journal article·2025-05-20Open access

I-BIM Applied in Railway Geometric Inspection Activity: Diagnostic and Alert

Zita Sampaio, Nuno Moreira, José Neves

Applied Sciences· Volume 15· Issue 10

Abstract

The Building Information Modeling (BIM) concept has been recently implemented in railway infrastructure, assisting mainly in the project elaboration, and further, the facility management aspect. The present study addresses the inspection activity of the railway geometry, in a BIM context, using a rigorous modeling process of the railway track components, and the development of a Dynamo script for the evaluation of the degree of geometric irregularity detected during inspection works. The monitoring phase of the rail tracks involves a planned railway inspection schedule, normally supported by human analyses of data collected in a railway geometric inspection. The created script allows for evaluating the inspection data and categorizes the data by alert levels that are associated with a color code, visualized over the railway components of the BIM model. The Dynamo script uses new BIM parameters considering the maintenance activity, allowing for analyzing inspection data and visualizing the colored alerts. This capacity alerts the maintenance engineer about the urgency of planning a retrofitting action, according to the severity level of the detected geometric anomaly. An illustrative real railway track segment is considered supporting the modeling process, the inspection data collection and the efficiency analyses of the script application. This research intends to contribute to increment knowledge of BIM adoption in railway infrastructures, emphasizing the potential of using Dynamo programming on BIM model database management.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline

Research context

OpenAlex topics: BIM and Construction Integration · Infrastructure Maintenance and Monitoring · Railway Engineering and Dynamics

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Department of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Environment, Higher Technical Institute, University of Lisbon, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal

CERIS—Civil Engineering Research and Innovation for Sustainability, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal

Funding

Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT)

References (50)

Show source-provided references
1. Integration of building information modeling and project management in construction project life cycle10.1016/j.autcon.2023.104832 ↗
2. Applications of Building information modelling in the early design stage of high-rise buildings10.1016/j.autcon.2023.104934 ↗
3. A multi-objective optimization and display framework for time-cost-carbon emissions in building materialization phase based on nD BIM concept10.1016/j.jobe.2025.111993 ↗
4. An OpenBIM-based 4D approach to support coordination meetings in virtual reality environments10.1016/j.jobe.2024.108647 ↗
5. Semião, J.F.L.C., Sousa, N.M.S., Cruz, R.M.S., and Prates, G.N.D. (2023). The 7D BIM model used in the maintenance of buildings. Advances in Sustainability Science and Technology, Springer.10.1007/978-3-031-44006-9 ↗
6. Dynamo script and a BIM-based process for measuring embodied carbon in buildings during the design phase10.1093/ijlct/ctad053 ↗
7. Rocha, G., and Mateus, L. (2024). Using Dynamo for automatic reconstruction of BIM elements from point clouds. Appl. Sci., 14.10.3390/app14104078 ↗
8. Sampaio, A.Z., Domingos, I.M., and Gomes, A.M. (2022, January 20–22). BIM teaching and programming in dynamo applied in the maintenance of buildings. Proceedings of the International Conference on Computer Graphics, Visualization, Computer Vision and Image Processing, Lisbon, Portugal.
9. Moreira, N. (2024). Application of BIM Methodology to Railway Monitoring. [Master’s Thesis, University of Lisbon]. Available online: https://fenix.tecnico.ulisboa.pt/cursos/mec21/dissertacao/1128253548923753.
10. Sampaio, A.Z., Figueiras, J., and Gomes, A.M. (2024, January 13–15). The BIM methodology applied to the design of box-section viaducts (in Portuguese). Proceedings of the National Meeting Structural Concrete, Porto, Portugal. Available online: https://www.fe.up.pt/be2024/sobre-o-be2024/.
11. Sampaio, A.Z., Tomé, J., and Gomes, A.M. (2023). Heritage Building Information Modelling Implementation First Steps Applied in a Castle Building: Historic Evolution Identity, Data Collection and Stratigraphic Modelling. Heritage, 6.10.3390/heritage6100338 ↗
12. BIM multitask project manager: Responsibility, organization and interoperability10.1016/j.procs.2024.06.146 ↗
13. Integrated railway design using Infrastructure-Building Information Modeling. The case study of the port of Venice10.1016/j.trpro.2020.02.084 ↗
14. Railway track deterioration models: A review of the state of the art10.1016/j.trgeo.2024.101377 ↗
15. BIM application in infrastructure projects10.7250/bjrbe.2020-15.485 ↗
16. Melo, A.L., Kaewunruen, S., Papaelias, M., Bernucci, L.L.B., and Motta, R. (2020). Methods to monitor and evaluate the deterioration of track and its components in a railway in-service: A systemic review. Front. Built. Environ., 6.10.3389/fbuil.2020.00118 ↗
17. Track geometry degradation and maintenance modelling: A review10.1177/0954409716657849 ↗
18. Track gauge measurement based on model matching using UAV image10.1016/j.autcon.2023.105070 ↗
19. Prediction of mechanical properties of rail pads under in-service conditions through machine. learning algorithms10.1016/j.advengsoft.2020.102927 ↗
20. Optimized railway track health monitoring system based on dynamic differential evolution algorithm10.1016/j.measurement.2019.107332 ↗
21. Rail crack detection using acoustic emission technique by joint optimization noise clustering and time window feature detection10.1016/j.apacoust.2019.107141 ↗
22. A new network paradigm for low-cost and lightweight real-time communication between train and rail track to detect missing and faulty rail blocks10.1016/j.jnca.2019.01.018 ↗
23. Analysis of BIM Implementation on Railway Infrastructures through an application to rail track rehabilitation and inspection
24. Railway infrastructure maintenance: A survey of planning problems and conducted research10.1016/j.trpro.2015.09.011 ↗
25. (2025, May 01). National Organization of Transport Infrastructures of Portugal. Available online: https://www.infraestruturasdeportugal.pt/en.
26. (2022). Railway Applications–Track–Track Geometry quality–Part 1: Characterization of Track Geometry (Standard No. EN 13848:2022). Available online: https://www.en-standard.eu/une-en-13848-1-2020-railway-applications-track-track-geometry-quality-part-1-characterization-of-track-geometry/?srsltid=AfmBOopKyVom0HoTiiXBomhpPROOeQ8Nja8o5nexOUioDA21wFI6GeD5.
27. (2025, May 01). Revit Autodesk. Available online: https://www.autodesk.com/products/revit/overview.
28. Analysis and prediction of railway track longitudinal level using multiple machine learning methods10.1088/1361-6501/ad060a ↗
29. Degradation prediction of rail tracks: A review of the existing literature10.2174/1874447801812010088 ↗
30. Loidolt, M., Weilguny, R., and Marschnig, S. (2024). Impact of rail irregularities on longitudinal level deterioration based on deconvoluted data. Civ. Eng. Infrastruct. J., 9.10.3390/infrastructures9090162 ↗
31. Li, Q., Zhong, Z., Liang, Z., and Liang, Y. (2015, January 2–4). Rail inspection meets big data: Methods and trends. Proceedings of the International Conference on Network-Based Information Systems, Taipei, Taiwan.10.1109/NBiS.2015.47 ↗
32. Fischer, S., Németh, D., and Horváth, H. (2023). Investigation of the track gauge in curved sections, considering hungarian railway lines. Infras., 8.10.3390/infrastructures8040069 ↗
33. Effect of rail cant on stress distribution10.30574/wjaets.2023.9.1.0184 ↗
34. Cant excess and cant deficiency evaluation in relation to train speed10.14311/APP.2017.11.0080 ↗
35. Modelling railway ballasted track settlement in vehicle-track interaction analysis10.1016/j.trgeo.2020.100433 ↗
36. Varandas, J., Silva, R., Silva, M., Lopes, N., and Holscher, P. (2012, January 18–20). The impact of rail corrugation on the degradation of the ballast. Proceedings of the International Conference on Railway Technology: Research, Development and Maintenance, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.
37. Perspectives on railway track geometry condition monitoring from in-service railway vehicles’10.1080/00423114.2015.1034730 ↗
38. Alqatawna, A., Sánchez-Cambronero, S., Gallego, I., and López-Morales, J.M. (2022). A graphical method for designing the horizontal alignment and the cant in high-speed railway lines aimed at mixed-speed traffic. Sustainability, 14.10.3390/su14148377 ↗
39. Mohammadzadeh, S., Heydari, H., Karimi, M., and Mosleh, A. (2024). Correlation analysis of railway track alignment and ballast stiffness: Comparing frequency-based and machine learning algorithms. Algorithms, 17.10.3390/a17080372 ↗
40. Gong, W., Akbar, M.F., Jawad, G.N., Mohamed, M.F.P., and Wahab, M.N.A. (2022). Nondestructive testing technologies for rail inspection: A review. Coatings, 12.10.3390/coatings12111790 ↗
41. (2025, May 01). Trolley KRAB. Available online: https://kzv.cz/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/NCI-EN.pdf.
42. (2025, May 01). Laser Rail Inspection System. Available online: https://www.pavemetrics.com/applications/rail-inspection/laser-rail-inspection-system/.
43. (2025, May 01). Iris 320 Railway Inspection Vehicle. Available online: https://youngtransportpro.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/20_iris320.pdf.
44. Study of loaded versus unloaded measurements in railway track inspection10.1016/j.measurement.2020.108556 ↗
45. Fault diagnosis of railway wheelsets: A review10.1016/j.measurement.2024.116169 ↗
46. Rahmat Rabi, R., and Monti, G. (2025). Genetic Algorithm-Based Model Updating in a Real-Time Digital Twin for Steel Bridge Monitoring. Appl. Sci., 15.10.3390/app15084074 ↗
47. Rabi, R.R., Vailati, M., and Monti, G. (2024). Effectiveness of Vibration-Based Techniques for Damage Localization and Lifetime Prediction in Structural Health Monitoring of Bridges: A Comprehensive Review. Buildings, 14.10.3390/buildings14041183 ↗
48. Slip of wheels on rails: The root cause for rail undulant wear10.1016/j.wear.2023.204727 ↗
49. (2025, May 01). GR.IT.VIA.018 Tolerance Geometric Track Parameters (in Portuguese). Available online: https://www.infraestruturasdeportugal.pt/sites/default/files/inline-files/NormativosInternos.pdf.
50. (2025, May 01). Dynamo Version for Revit. Available online: https://dynamobim.org/.