Engineering Management for Sustainable Future: High-Speed Rail Development Study

This report focuses on the strategic study carried out on the development of a High-speed Rail on the east coast of Australia. It includes the potential regional and social development, future demands, costs, potential stations and corridors, financial feasibility, and cost estimation.

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ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
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Table of Contents
1.0 Summary..............................................................................................................................3
2.0 Introduction..........................................................................................................................4
3.0 Discussion............................................................................................................................8
3.1my Reflect decisions......................................................................................................8
3.2 The week-by-week content...........................................................................................9
3.3 Other students’ full Decisions & Reflections Logs....................................................11
4.0 Conclusion & Learnings....................................................................................................12
5.0 Referencing........................................................................................................................13

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1.0 Summary
The report focuses on the strategic study which was carried out on the development of a
High-speed Rail which was to be developed on the east coast of Australia. The
implementation was initiated by the minister for transport and infrastructure Hon. Anthony
Albanese. The study was carried out in two phases, the first phase was to be undertaken
between January and June 2011 which was to assess the; potential regional and social
development, The potential future demands which will be needed for the high speed rail, the
range of costs which are likely to be incurred and the potential stations and corridors (Grigg,
2016, p. 54).
Phase two of the study mainly focused on the financial feasibility of the High-Speed Rail,
identifying the optimum route which was to be followed by the High-Speed Rail, find out the
potential financing options which were to be used in the implementation and do the cost
estimation of the whole project.
Depending on the combination of the corridors, the reflecting level of confidence for the
phase and the combination of the corridors the total cost for implementation of the overall
project of ranges between $61 billion and $108 billion. The risk-adjusted cost which was
estimated included the stations, land acquisition, city access. Stabling and maintenance
facilities, civil and rail infrastructures, power infrastructure, and the ticketing and IT systems
(Guthrie, 2017, p. 112).
Some of the corridors which were shortlisted for further analysis in the second phase of the
study included; the coastal corridors which were between Newcastle and Brisbane with the
potential variation around the Gold cost and the Coastal cities, The central coast corridors
between Sydney and Newcastle (Rodriguez, 2015, p. 201). The Princes Highway and The

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Hume Highway corridors which were between the Canberra and Sydney, through the
Southern Highlands.
For the study methodology, a base corridor was used during the study to predict the patronage
of the High-Speed Rail which was based on the assumption about the competing modes and
forecast travel demand (Hillel, 2017, p. 243). The long listing corridors were identified which
were within the study area to enable a wider comparison between the coastal corridors and
the inland corridors.
Four categories of High-Speed Rail station were identified; the city center, Regional stations,
City-peripheral and the airport stations. The city-peripheral and the city stations were to serve
the main city and the larger metropolitan areas, while the regional stations were to link the
regional communities to one another and the capital city at large (Jiuping Xu, 2015, p. 107).
The airport stations were to provide access to the High-Speed Railway passengers to the air
transport services.
The cost was estimated to enable the comparison of the various stations options and the
corridors together with other contributing factors and the economic benefits. The cost
estimation was based on the strategic information which was available during the first phase
of the study, and the probability assessment was undertaken to enable the confirmation of the
confidence range for the cost estimation (Kanwar, 2013, p. 143).
2.0 Introduction
The objective of the study on the implementation of the High-Speed Rail on the east coast of
Australia was;
Establish the costs estimates which were required to undertake the next stages of
implementation of the projects such as the corridor resumptions and identification of the
route alignment.

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Find out the stations options and route which were including the construction cost and the
interaction with other modes of transport.
Identify the main design requirements and decisions to operate and build a viable High-Speed
Rail on the east coast of Australia.
Find out the land which is not yet developed or the existing corridors that were to be
considered for preservation strategies and High-Speed Railway network.
Provide the options and advice on the relevant construction, financial, environmental and
engineering considerations.
The study which was carried out drew on the international experience on the construction and
planning of the High-Speed Rail networks. An international advisory panel provided advice
on the applying experience in the Australian context (Kauffman, 2016, p. 34). Phase two of
the study was to provide further advice on the refine patronage demand, system applications,
and complimentary projects, commercial and financial viability and identify preferred
stations and corridors. A base year was required, and 2036 was used for appraisal as a
common date for common assessment (Tammemagi, 2016, p. 112).
The study area was identified regarding references to the area which was between Melbourne
and Brisbane which are located on the east coast of Australia. As shown in Figure 1 below.

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Fig 1: The study area.
The current population of Australia is estimated to be 23 million people, and it is expected to
increases to 30 to 40 million people by 2056.That was to depend on the birth, death rates and
the rate of the overseas migration. 75% of the Australian population currently lives in urban
areas the four major cities which were under study include Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and
Canberra (Yao, 2013, p. 234). The four cities currently have a combine population of about
11million. The table below shows the population distribution on the cities which are located
on the east coast of Australia (Abidin, 2016, p. 34).

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Table 1: The population of the Australia Coastal cities.
Long-term planning within the study area was very significant for the evaluation of the
potential High-Speed Rail corridor. A system for the High-Speed Rail should be properly
integrated into the transport network in the urban areas.
The council of the Australian government in December 2009 agreed that the state and
terrorists would put in place the best plans for the city by 2012.
Cost and risk- The risk-adjusted cost excluded the client procurement and planning
management cost which were to be approximately10 to 15 percent of the estimated cost of
implementation (Lagutov, 2011, p. 23). The table below gives the accurate cost estimate
which was including the adjustment for the risk.

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Table 2: Accurate cost estimate
3.0 Discussion
3.1 My Reflect decisions
During the study, I identified that the main stakeholders who were involved in the
implementation of the High-speed Rail were the government and people of Australia. I found
out that the losses which were incurred during the implementation of the project were linked
directly to the people and government of Australia, It's the government that was to spend the
money, and it's the people of Australia who were to enjoy the benefits which are associated
with the implementation of the High-Speed Rail (Blackburn, 2015, p. 453).
From the follow up which I made It was clear that the sustainability and the interest which
the government had in implementing the High-Speed Rail was to; generate money and link
the different parts of the east coast of Australia, provide affordable means of transport to the
growing population of Australia, who are currently using air transport. The rail network
which was to be developed was to link different parts of the east coast of Australia thus
making it cheaper for people to move from one city to another without any challenge (Dixon,
2014, p. 23).

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I identified the related conflicts that may require being resolved such as; loss of agriculture
land which was to give room to the passage of the High Speed Rail, in that way the farmers
who were depending on agriculture for their livelihood most of them were to be affected, the
expected traffic of trains was also to contribute to many challenges which the passengers
were to face and the reduction in the demand in the air transport which was to create a very
huge loss to the aviation industry as most of the residents of the eastern cost of Australia were
to prefer using the High Speed Rail to air transport (Eisner, 2011, p. 76).
Compared to business, as usual, I found out that some of the issues that I might come across
in the commissioning and construction of the project were; lack of labour both the skilled and
unskilled, lack construction materials and insufficient money also I found out that there are
very high chances to face a very tough conflict from the people who were to be displaced to
pave the way for the construction of the project.
3.2 The week-by-week content
During the first week of the study, I downloaded the Exec summary of the first phase of the
report, and I familiarised myself with the contents of this report such as the key elements of
the government position on the implementation of the High-Speed Rail.
The stakeholders and people who were to be affected by the project were identified. The
people and government of Australia were to be directly involved in the implementation of the
High-Speed Rail in different ways.

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The interests and the sustainability of the people who were involved ware also identified
during the first week. Also, the conflicts which were related to the implementation of the
project were also pointed out during that week.
During the second week of the study, the full report of phase one was downloaded which
enabled me to be able to identify the best routes which were able to cover the entire east coast
of Australia to avoid wastage of resources.Each of the frameworks which were discussed in
topic two was considered and how they were applied to the implementation of the ESHSR. I
decided that there should be proper allocation of resources to maintain very high levels of
sustainability which was to facilitate the decrease of usage of resources and increase the
wealth among the people of Australia.
During the third week of the study, I developed my framework whereby the train was to
cover all the major cities and the remote areas which were within the eastern cost of
Australia. The various compromises which were to be made and on how the conflict which
was to arise were to be dealt with were all considered during his week of study.
The fourth week of study I developed a clear project level according to my concept
development whereby the task which was to be carried out during the implementation was
divided for each individual, and each member was aware on what he/she was supposed to be
working on.
During the fifth week, I developed a delivery process that enabled the sustainability outcomes
and the concept design to be developed into a detailed design that was to enable me to realize
the expectations of the sustainability. During the sixth week, the project had gone beyond the
design stage, and all the focus was shifted towards the overseeing the commissioning and
construction.

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3.3 Other students’ full Decisions & Reflections Logs
According to one of the students who I reviewed his work ‘the people who were affected or
involved in the implementation of the High-Speed Rail included the Latent stakeholders,
expectant stakeholders, and the ultimate stakeholders. According to them, the stakeholders
were classified according to the power, legitimacy, and urgency.
The decision which was made by the other student who I also reviewed his work was that the
stakeholders or the people who were to be affected by the High-speed rail were;
Commonwealth Government, Federal Government, Environmental Activist, Australian
People and the Land Owners
The students came up with decisions regarding the interests and the sustainability perspective
that the latent stakeholders they will pay more interests on impacts which the project will be
having on their day to day life and the surrounding environment. The expectant stakeholders
they were to shift a lot of their focus on the adverse effects or the beneficial impacts which
the High-Speed Rail will have on them, but their sustainability perspective might be to
develop a cheap and efficient high-speed rail system which was to provide more job
opportunities to the locals where the project was to be implemented.
The ultimate stakeholders have their interests developed in solving the traffic problems that
are caused by the population growth through high-speed rail projects. By providing very
efficient interstate transportation to the public to reduce the traffic which is existing in the
high-speed rail.
According to one of the students who I reviewed is log sheet some of the related conflicts
which needs to be resolved include; the conflict which was to arise due to the choice of the
route, the conflict between the residents and the construction units, conflict which was to be
caused by insufficient electricity, the conflict which was to arise between the existing

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transport system and the high speed rail system and finally the conflict which was to arise
between the environmental protection and the construction efficiency units.
4.0 Conclusion & Learnings
In conclusion, the High-Speed Rail system which was to be implemented on the east coast of
Australia was to offer efficient and affordable transport to the residents. The main
stakeholders and the people who were to directly affect by the implementation of the project
included the Government and people of Australia (Kiritsis, 2011, p. 345).
There are a lot of conflicts which were to be solved before the implementation of the high-
speed rail they included; the conflict between the residents near the construction site and the
construction unit, the conflict between the environmental protection bodies and the
construction company which was focusing on the efficiency of the high speed rail, the
conflict between proposed high speed rail system and the existing transport system.
The interest and the sustainability perspectives which the stakeholders had were to make
money from the project while linking the different parts of the east coast of Australia which
was to make it easier for the people to move from one city to another cheaply instead of using
the expensive means of transport such as the air transport.
For the purpose of obtaining sustainability while implementing the high-speed rail system an
environmental study was required to be carried out for the additional Goulburn airport, stage
gates will be required at different stages of the EPC (Kresic, 2014, p. 32). Transport for the
NSW environment and the sustainability framework should be used to carry out the study in a
more organized way.

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5.0 Referencing
Abidin, N. Z., 2016. Environmental Concerns in Malaysian Construction Industry. 5th ed.
Paris: Penerbit USM.
Blackburn, W., 2015. The Sustainability Handbook: The Complete Management Guide to
Achieving Social, Economic. 2nd ed. Berlin: West Academic.
Dixon, T., 2014. Urban Retrofitting for Sustainability: Mapping the Transition to 2050. 1st
ed. London: Routledge.
Eisner, H., 2011. Essentials of Project and Systems Engineering Management. 1st ed.
Sydney: John Wiley & Sons.
Grigg, N. S., 2012. Water, Wastewater, and Stormwater Infrastructure Management,. 4th ed.
London: CRC Press.
Grigg, N. S., 2016. Infrastructure Finance: The Business of Infrastructure for a Sustainable
Future. 1st ed. London: John Wiley & Sons.
Guthrie, P., 2017. Engineering Change: Towards a Sustainable Future in the Developing
World. 1st ed. Chicago: Royal Academy of Engineering.
Hillel, D., 2017. Salinity Management for Sustainable Irrigation: Integrating Science,
Environment,. 2nd ed. Paris: World Bank Publications.
Jiuping Xu, 2015. Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Management
Science and Engineering Management: Focused on Electrical and Information Technology,.
2nd ed. London: Springer Science & Business Media.
Kanwar, R., 2013. International Conference on 21st Century Challenges to Sustainable Agri-
Food Systems: Biotechnology, Environment, Nutrition, Trade and Policy. 3rd ed. Texas: I. K.
International Pvt Ltd.

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Kauffman, J., 2016. Handbook of Sustainable Engineering. 4th ed. London: Springer
Netherlands.
Kiritsis, D., 2011. Engineering Asset Management: Proceedings of the Fourth World
Congress on Engineering Asset Management. 3rd ed. Texas: Springer Science & Business
Media.
Kresic, N., 2014. Groundwater Hydrology of Springs: Engineering, Theory, Management
and Sustainability. 2nd ed. London: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Lagutov, V., 2011. Environmental Security in Watersheds: The Sea of Azov. 3rd ed. Texas:
Springer.
Munier, N., 2013. Introduction to Sustainability: Road to a Better Future. 4th ed. Chicago:
Springer Science & Business Media,.
Murray, M., 2014. Corporate Social Responsibility in the Construction Industry. 3rd ed.
London: Routledge,.
Peterson's, J., 2012. Peterson's Graduate Programs in Engineering & Applied Sciences 2012.
2nd ed. Berlin: Peterson's.
Rodriguez, G., 2015. Coastal Cities and their Sustainable Future. 1st ed. Chicago: WIT
Press.
Tammemagi, H. Y., 2016. The Waste Crisis: Landfills, Incinerators, and the Search for a
Sustainable Future. 2nd ed. Texas: Oxford University Press.
Yao, R., 2013. Design and Management of Sustainable Built Environments. 5th ed. Sydney:
Springer Science & Business .

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