The most successful urban rail projects knit effective passenger transport systems into the fabric of the city. 

This Metros and Urban Rail series from Aurecon highlights some of the technical, social and planning challenges thrown up when developing new or enhanced metro or rail systems and looks at some of the ways we have addressed these.

Each type of urban rail system has its own challenges and also its own benefits.

In this series we will investigate metros, light rail, passenger rail, and monorail. 

We will also introduce you to many of our experts with impressive track records delivering these projects globally.

David Ness
Transport Services Group Leader

David Radcliffe
Industry Director, Transport

The tunnel ventilation strategy is one of the key considerations when planning and designing an underground metro or railway.  Mikel Alonso looks at how to effectively balance the key functions of a ventilation system in order to maximise both safety and cost efficiencies for an underground metro or railway system. Read more

Introducing or extending a Light Rail Transit system presents many challenges, not just related to design and construction, but often to existing policy, planning and procurement practices.  In this article Bill Guy looks at effective approaches to addressing these. Read more

Warren Dou talks about effective risk management and innovative technical solutions that address the challenges of constructing underground stations in urban environments. Read more

Saving iconic or heritage buildings during the tunnelling process can be tricky.  Anthony Bennett, Aurecon’s tunnels leader, looks at proven approaches to saving the building while developing underground rail infrastructure.  Read more

The Hong Kong West Kowloon Terminus (WKT) is part of the large scale (USD 8 billion) infrastructure project that aims to link Hong Kong with major Chinese cities via high speed rail. Read more

Meet Stuart Littlewood
Aurecon’s Metros Leader, Asia. Based in Singapore, Stuart has over 30 years of experience in delivering some of the biggest urban transit systems in Asia and the Middle East. Read more

Melbourne Metro, Australia
Melbourne Metro is a critical city-shaping project that will overhaul Melbourne's rail network, resulting in major improvements in capacity, reliability and travel times across the bulk of the metropolitan rail lines. Read more

Meet Chris Burley
Aurecon’s Transport Planning lead in Asia.  Based in Hong Kong, he has over 25 years of integrated transport infrastructure planning experience in most major Asian countries. Read more

Meet Mikel Alonso
A senior engineer based in Melbourne. He has over 10 years of international experience leading multidisciplinary design teams on mass transit projects, with expertise in tunnel ventilation and M&E design. Read more

Mauritius Light Railway Transit, The Mauritius
Aurecon has developed a world-class public transportation light rail transit project to serve commuters and the general public travelling between Curepipe and Port Louis, a distance of roughly 26km. Read more

Meet Warren Dou
A technical director and Aurecon's Ground Engineering Leader. Based in Hong Kong, he has over 25 years of experience delivering Metros in some of the most urbanised cities throughout Asia. Read more

Meet Bill Guy
A technical director and project manager based in The Mauritius. With expertise in transport planning, he has over 25 years of international experience delivering mass transportation systems and public multi - modal interchanges. Read more
 

Gold Coast Rapid Transit, Australia
The Gold Coast Rapid Transit is completing the first stage of development in which 13km of light rail will service the fast growing commercial, retail and recreational centres between Southport and Broadbeach on the Gold Coast. Read more

Meet Grant Daniel
With over 27 years of experience, he has provided programme and project management of large multi-disciplinary teams for mass rapid transit systems throughout Asia and the UK. Read more