CONSTRUCTION
Texas Central, Webuild | June 16, 2021
Texas Central, the developers of the high-speed train between Dallas and Houston, has signed a $16 billion deal with Webuild, a joint venture between The Lane Construction Corporation and Webuild in the United States, to head the civil construction team for the Texas passenger line.
Webuild is one of the world's largest civil engineering contractors. Texas Central's selection demonstrates the engagement of industry-leading organizations in the construction of the high-speed train.
Webuild operates in over 50 countries across five continents and has built over 8,500 miles of railway and metro infrastructure in Australia, Europe, Asia, and the Americas. It has constructed several high-speed train projects in Europe and several famous, complex projects in the more significant transportation industry, including the Panama Canal extension, the Grand Paris Express, and the Anacostia River and Northeast Boundary tunnels in Washington D.C.
The firm is working in the United States since the 1980s and increased its footprint in 2016 by combining with The Lane Construction Corporation, a U.S.-based company with almost 130 years of infrastructure experience.
The announcement is the latest milestone for the investor-led project, which envisions a 200-mph train connecting the state's most populous and economically important districts in 90 minutes, with a midway stop in the Brazos Valley. The initiative will build a super-economy by linking individuals in the fourth and fifth major U.S. markets searching for safe, dependable, environmentally friendly, and productive transport choices.
According to the deal, Webuild will handle all heavy construction for the project, planning and constructing all 236 miles of the alignment, roughly half of which will be on the viaduct. Much of the route is raised to minimize landowners and inhabitants in the counties it will pass through.Webuild will also construct all maintenance and industrial buildings, as well as train stations and facilities.
Texas Central Railroad's proposed Texas high-speed rail line will be modeled after the successful Japanese Tokaido Shinkansen high-speed rail system, managed by the Central Japan Railway Company (JRC). Texas Central chose this system because it is one of the world's safest and most timely train systems. Throughout its 55-year history, it has transported over 10 billion people while maintaining a flawless safety record of zero operational passenger fatalities and zero accidents. Every day, this technology transports around 400,000 passengers.
During the six-year construction period, the project is expected to generate 17,000 direct jobs, over 20,000 supply chain job opportunities, and more than 1,400 direct permanent jobs when the train is fully operating. The Texas Central project will require $7.3 billion of materials from 37 different U.S. states. This project will have a cumulative economic effect of $36 billion over the next 25 years.
About Texas Central
Texas Central has a Business and Workforce Opportunity Program, with the mission of promoting the value and development of small, rural, minority-, woman-, veteran-, and disabled individual-owned businesses by providing fair and competitive opportunities to bid on and participate in the construction and operation of the Texas high-speed train.
About Webuild
Texas Central, which includes its operating subsidiary Texas Central Railroad, is the company in charge of developing, designing, building, financing, and operating the innovative new high-speed passenger train line that will connect the country's fourth and fifth largest economies, North Texas and Greater Houston, in less than 90 minutes, with one stop in the Brazos Valley.
Read More
prnewswire | August 31, 2020
Michael Baker International, a global leader in engineering, planning and consulting services celebrating 80 Years of Making a Difference, announced today that Derek Vogelsang has joined the firm as Vice President of Engineering Technology. In this role, he will lead companywide efforts to create, innovate and distribute technologies that will enable the firm to deliver new work with greater value to its clients. He will be based out of the firm's Denver Office.
Read More
CONSTRUCTION
Autodesk | June 03, 2021
Autodesk, Inc. today announced it had released a new series of workflows for Autodesk Construction Cloud that can help customers comply with ISO 19650, a global design and construction information management standard. These new workflows offer a robust set of tools to define a structured and standardized process for publishing, sharing, and storing project information. Global customers using Autodesk Build, Autodesk BIM Collaborate and Collaborate Pro, Autodesk Takeoff, and Autodesk Docs can now also choose to primarily store their project data in Europe – a common customer request for projects in the region.
Standardization across the construction industries allows teams to build more efficiently and create stronger collaboration among all project and company stakeholders. ISO 19650 was introduced to ensure firms meet specific requirements, including standard naming conventions often defined by each country, and calls for project data to be stored and managed in particular ways. The uniformity helps teams streamline processes, become more efficient, and create a safer, more secure, and more predictable approach to data governance.
New workflows to support ISO 19650
Designed and developed in close collaboration with Autodesk customers, new workflows within Autodesk Construction Cloud empower teams to efficiently configure, organize and distribute documents across the project lifecycle to support ISO 19650 requirements. Specifically, customers can:
Preview and enforce naming standards: teams can now create, manage and implement naming standards across project files to ensure all file names align with standardizations set forth by the project team. Document controllers can quickly start with a standard naming template to create and enforce the project naming standard.
Validate the naming standard: users can automate file uploads and ensure the files conform with a project's naming standard to assist teams in complying with ISO 19650.
Identify non-conforming files and place them in a Holding Area: when a mix of files are uploaded to a destination folder, some files may not conform to the enforced naming standard. The Holding Area allows files with conforming names to be uploaded and automatically moves non-conforming files to a Holding Area to continue the validation and upload process.
Increase efficiency with integrations: users can also leverage native naming standard integrations across Revit, AutoCAD, and Desktop Connector to enforce standards across project phases.
Regional project data storage in Europe
Autodesk customers using Autodesk Build, Autodesk BIM Collaborate, BIM Collaborate Pro, Autodesk Takeoff, and Autodesk Docs can now choose to store their project data in Europe primarily. Customers often request both ISO 19650 compliance and data storage proximity on European projects. By providing customers with the option to primarily store project data in Europe and new workflows targeted at helping companies comply with ISO 19650 measures, Autodesk empowers construction teams throughout the world to stay competitive during the bidding process.
Autodesk Docs will be available as a standalone subscription.
Autodesk also announced today it would be releasing Autodesk Docs as a standalone purchase option within the next several weeks. Autodesk Docs is the centralized data management platform that underpins Autodesk Construction Cloud. Previously, Autodesk Docs was included with any subscription for Autodesk Construction Cloud and the AEC Collection. Teams will then be able to leverage the power of Autodesk's common data environment with Autodesk Docs as a standalone solution to create a single source of truth across the project lifecycle.
About Autodesk
Autodesk makes software for people who make things. Suppose you've ever driven a high-performance car, admired a towering skyscraper, used a smartphone, or watched a great film. In that case, chances are you've experienced what millions of Autodesk customers do with our software. Autodesk gives you the power to make anything.
Read More