Why A Canadian Rail Standard Should Include Early Integration

The adverse outcomes plaguing Canadian transit and passenger rail projects in recent years are well documented. These include:

• huge time and cost overruns
• loss of public support for large-scale projects
• rework and change orders
• adversarial relationships between the public and private sector
• poorly performing railway systems and infrastructure
• disappointment that what’s delivered doesn’t match what was promised (thanks to a misaligned original concept and compromises along the path to delivery)

Many solutions to these problems have been proposed, including changing procurement and commercial models, increasing transparency, reducing risk to the private sector, increasing public sector capability, and design standardization, to name a few.

In an effort to combat the delays, cost overruns, and deteriorating public trust in transit projects, the CSA Group (CSA), is collaborating with TRACCS and the wider industry to understand how standards can support improved rail transit project delivery. Their aim is to provide guidance across design, construction and commissioning of transit and rail projects to improve their efficiency and quality.

A comprehensive standards framework would, by necessity, encompass various technical, operational, safety, environmental and social considerations. We would add that another fundamental inclusion in a Canadian rail standard is early integration, as doing so will help address many of the issues Canadian rail and transit projects are currently facing.

The benefit of early integration

Research shows incorporating early system integration improves rail project delivery in several ways:

1. Improved coordination and efficiency

• Early system integration allows for the synchronization of different subsystems (such as signalling, train control, electrical systems, and communications). This ensures that all components work seamlessly together, reducing the risk of delays and ensuring smooth coordination among different teams.
• It helps in identifying dependencies and potential conflicts between systems early on, allowing for more efficient planning and resource allocation.
• Early design concept work (Concept of Maintenance and Operations, for example) to ensure that the overall transit design can deliver the desired improvements to the transit infrastructure.

2. Reduced risk of cost overruns

• By planning for and implementing integration of systems early, issues related to compatibility, system interoperability, and performance bottlenecks can be identified and addressed before construction begins. This minimizes costly rework or redesigns later in the project.
• It allows for better budget management and reduces the likelihood of unexpected costs arising due to unforeseen integration challenges.

3. Enhanced design quality

• Early integration encourages a holistic design approach, where engineers and stakeholders consider the entire system as a whole, rather than in isolated parts. This leads to more cohesive and efficient designs, as the system’s interactions and interdependencies are fully understood.
• It also helps in identifying potential performance issues or limitations in the design, which can be rectified during the early phases of the project.

4. Optimised scheduling

• Early system integration enables better project scheduling because potential delays or challenges are identified in advance. With early insight into how systems will interact, the project timeline can be adjusted, and tasks can be coordinated to ensure smooth progression.
• It reduces the risk of last-minute complications that could cause delays and extend the project’s timeline.

5. Better testing and commissioning

• When integration is considered early, testing strategies can be designed and implemented earlier in the project, allowing for earlier identification of system issues. This leads to a smoother commissioning phase, where the system is more likely to function as expected without major disruptions.
• A more thorough understanding of system interactions allows for the development of better testing scenarios and validation methods, ensuring that all components and subsystems work as intended in the real-world environment.

6. Improved stakeholder collaboration

• Involving stakeholders early in the integration process promotes collaboration and ensures that all parties are on the same page regarding system requirements and expectations. This fosters a more collaborative environment between transit operators, contractors, engineers, and suppliers.
• It ensures that the needs and requirements of different stakeholders (such as operational staff, engineers, and maintenance teams) are met, leading to greater satisfaction and smoother project delivery.

7. Future-proofing

• Considering system integration early allows for the inclusion of scalable and flexible systems that can adapt to future needs. This is especially important in rail projects, which often have long operational lifespans. By designing systems with integration in mind, it becomes easier to incorporate future technological upgrades or expansions, as well as more efficient integration into an existing transit network.
• Early integration can also help to ensure that systems are compatible with evolving standards, technologies, and regulations, thus avoiding obsolescence.

8. Optimized safety and reliability

• Railway infrastructure projects must meet high safety standards. By considering system integration from the outset, potential safety risks related to system interactions can be identified and mitigated in the design phase.
• Early integration ensures that safety-critical systems are properly tested, and that reliability is built into the system from day one, minimizing the risk of failure once the system is operational.

9. Regulatory compliance

• Railways are subject to strict regulatory requirements. Considering system integration early in the project allows for the identification and adherence to these regulations across all subsystems. This ensures compliance is achieved without delays or modifications during later stages of the project.

10. Enhanced operational efficiency

• Integrated systems ensure smoother operations once the railway infrastructure is operational. Early integration leads to better operational performance, such as improved train scheduling, communication between trains and control centres, and more efficient use of resources like energy and train capacity.

Overall, early system integration in railway infrastructure projects results in better project outcomes in terms of cost, time, quality, and performance. It allows for proactive management of risks, ensures systems are compatible, and leads to a more reliable and efficient railway network once the project is completed.

How can a standard support early integration?

A Canadian national rail standard has the potential to support early integration by providing a clear, unified framework for planning, construction, and operation. To achieve this, we would suggest several important considerations:

Appropriate commercial structures

To implement successful early integration, it must be considered when defining the most appropriate commercial structures (contracting, work packages). For example, commercial arrangements should define at what stage different stakeholders should be involved, define system interfaces, include integration KPIs, outline testing and commissioning protocols, and clearly define integration accountability and risk allocation.

Read more about the commercial causes of integration risk HERE

Procurement

The standard should require integration to be included in the project specification and procurement, to avoid it being left out of the early project stages in the name of achieving a lower bid price. Guidance should be provided on how to scale SI resource requirements and expertise to match the project type, size and complexity.

Inclusion of an Integration Authority

In particularly complex projects, a dedicated Integration Authority should be required. This team, independent of the civil infrastructure and system suppliers, brings their technical knowledge, project management and problem-solving skills to the table to take holistic oversight of the integration process, coordinate different contractors, mitigate risk and ensure alignment between various systems.

Establish support for integration

It’s also important to note that standards don’t exist in a vacuum and the supporting integration processes, policies, and documentation must be established for such a standard to work.

For example, the Canadian Method for Risk Evaluation And Assessment for railway systems (CMREA), (based on the European Common Safety Method (CSM) and formalised as standard CSA R114:22 by the CSA Group), is used to identify and assess risks associated with rail operations and infrastructure. CMREA requires an Independent Safety Assessor (ISA) on a project, whose role is to independently evaluate the safety aspects of a rail project. However, the ISA role is only part of the equation – they can’t review the safety assurance documentation if it doesn’t exist or if it’s not completed to a useful standard.

Similarly, if a standard were to indicate the inclusion of an Integration Authority on complex projects, a foundation in support of early integration would be necessary. For example, the standard would also need to define early document needs, such as the Concept of Operations, Concept of Maintenance, Baseline Task Analysis, and Predictive Task Analysis, which would need to be put into place for the Integration Authority to be effective.

A practical application of standards

Creating standards is only one part of the equation. How do we ensure they’re put into practice effectively to achieve the outcomes underpinning their development in the first place?

Standards are often sufficiently generic to be applied to a broad range of applications, and thus subject to differing interpretations and approaches. While the inclusion of experienced practitioners of the standards in project teams is one way to guide their implementation, these individuals are few in numbers, highly sought after and often already engaged on projects.

Our recommendation is to create clear and practical accompanying handbooks to guide their implementation. One can look to the UK for good examples of how this has been done. The Infrastructure Project Authority Project Routemap handbook and modules, found here, and the Office of Road and Rail’s guidance on the application of the Common Safety Method, found here, are useful and practical resources.

Key Takeaways

• System integration should be included in future Canadian rail standards to overcome challenges observed in today’s rail and transit projects
• Standards don’t exist in a vacuum: structures and processes must be set up for them to be effective and serve their purpose
• Provide practical guidance in their implementation to achieve the desired outcomes