Trimble Alignment Planning: 30 Kilometer (18.6 Mile) Shaoshan-Ganzhou Railway Project

May 21, 2024

The Shaoshan-Ganzhou railway project was a mixed passenger and freight line with a design speed of 200 kilometers per hour (124.2 miles per hour) and limiting grade of 6 percent. It was conducted by the Fifth Railway Design Institute Group Corporation (T5Y) in China using the Trimble^® Quantm Alignment Planning system.

The objective was to verify an existing 30 kilometer (18.6 mile) Dongyu-Huanglong design alignment section of the Shaoshan-Ganzhou project developed using conventional methods from the pre-feasibility study, and to search for better alternative solutions

“With its unique DTM and optimisation engine, Quantm is capable of handling vast amounts of data efficiently and empowers our engineers to deliver multiple viable alignments with great reduction in bridge and tunnel length. The system also provides us new ideas on station location, environmental protection and land acquisitions along the route.”
- The Fifth Railway Survey and Design Institute Group Corporation (T5Y)

Within two weeks of operation with Quantm, the T5Y project team had not only confirmed the existing design alignment as a viable corridor but also identified a better alternative alignment just a few hundred meters south from the existing alignment. The alternative alignment provides a reduction of 860 meters (0.5 miles) in tunnel length and 2,770 meters (1.7 miles) in bridge length, which reduced the bridge/tunnel ratio from 48.5 percent to 36.5 percent. The optimized alignment was also 250 meters (820.2 feet) shorter in total length while maintaining the same geometric standard and meeting all the environmental requirements.