Cross River Rail is one of Queensland’s largest and most complex transport infrastructure programs - delivering a new rail line beneath Brisbane’s river and central business district, with multiple new and upgraded stations, tunnels, and stabling and signalling works delivered across 17 active work sites. With thousands of contributors and billions of dollars at stake, the program demanded an extraordinary level of coordination, certainty, and risk mitigation.
From the start, CRRDA made a deliberate choice: build digitally first, then build physically, with GIS and BIM working as one to place real-world context at the centre of planning, design, delivery, and readiness for operations.
Cross River Rail is a major Brisbane infrastructure project delivering a 10.2-kilometre rail line, including 5.9 kilometres of twin tunnels beneath the Brisbane River and CBD, four new underground stations, and significant station and network works to increase capacity and resilience.
Complexity at mega-project scale needs clarity - not more documents
On a program this large, delivery partners generate huge volumes of design and construction information. Without consistent standards and connected data, models drift, coordination breaks down, and teams risk making critical decisions without a reliable view of real-world conditions - utilities, property boundaries, environmental constraints, and more.
Public confidence and operational readiness start long before opening day
CRRDA also needed a way to communicate complex engineering works with transparency, supporting stakeholder engagement and enabling scenario planning for safety and operations (from evacuation planning to emergency response), well before passengers ever step onto a platform.
A federated digital foundation - built once, trusted everywhere
CRRDA adopted a BIM-enabled approach to create a federated digital representation of the rail system, aligning engineering models with real-world spatial context so decisions could be made with confidence, based on authoritative data, not static documentation.
GIS + BIM integration, powered by Autodesk and Esri Australia
Through the Esri Australia–Autodesk partnership, CRRDA connected design and construction data to geospatial reality, supporting collaboration across teams and helping translate project information into enterprise insight.
CRRDA’s “system-of-systems” approach connected:
Autodesk authoring + coordination workflows (including Revit, Civil 3D, AutoCAD, Navisworks, and Forma as the working environment)
A formal CDE for approved deliverables with controlled transfer workflows
Esri’s GIS platform, centred on ArcGIS Enterprise, to securely deliver authoritative 2D/3D spatial information and support planning assessments, option evaluation, and impact analysis
A 3D visualisation pipeline to bring technical accuracy and photorealism into immersive experiences.
—Russel Vine, General Manager, Strategic Communications & Engagement, Cross River Rail Delivery Authority
1) Better decisions, earlier - reducing risk and rework
By combining BIM and GIS into a connected environment, teams could identify conflicts sooner, test options with real-world context, and make decisions faster, helping avoid costly rework and delays later in delivery. CRRDA estimates costs averted to date in the neighborhood of millions through earlier detection and resolution of issues.
2) Simulation-led planning for safety, operations, and major events
With a digital twin foundation, CRRDA simulated station operations and emergency scenarios (including evacuation flows and time-critical responses) and used visualisation as a “common ground” for workshops with operational and emergency stakeholders - refining procedures and shaping readiness activities before opening day.
3) Stronger stakeholder engagement and public trust through visual clarity
CRRDA’s Experience Centre and immersive digital storytelling helped translate complexity into clarity - supporting transparency, improving understanding, and strengthening community confidence in project outcomes.
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Cross River Rail shows what becomes possible when authoritative spatial data is treated as a core input to engineering and delivery, not an add-on. By bridging GIS and BIM across the project lifecycle, infrastructure owners and AEC teams can manage complexity at scale, evaluate scenarios earlier, and connect project information to long-term operational value.
Cross River Rail proves that digital transformation isn’t a future ambition - it’s a practical advantage today. By unifying GIS and BIM, CRRDA is building with clearer insight, greater confidence, and a stronger foundation for connected infrastructure systems that will serve Queensland for decades.
