Essay: System Design Process Of A Project: Theory And Principles.

Critically analyse the system design process of a project using the theory and principles.

Preliminary design

Light Rail Transit is a Light Rapid transit which is a series of automatically localized guideway transport system that operates as a heavy rail mass. In the world’s broadest spectrum, light rain transit is referred to as one of the widely used as a communication medium. This report depicts the entire framework representation of the Downtown Light Rail Transit (LRT), including its conceptual design and development plan as well. Before the final implementation of the project it is necessary for the project developer to develop a preliminary design for the LRT project. The primary design details along with the details development and design concept are also elaborated in this report. In addition to this, the system testing, evaluation, validation and optimization approaches for the Light Rail Transit project is also illustrated in this report.

The objective of the report is to design a Light Rail transit to extend the LTR from Millwoods to Lewis Estates. Considering the past situation of the LTR, the new design must include certain additional design based approaches so that the issues could be mitigated those the previous design was facing (Dube, Theriault & Des Rosiers, 2013). In order to implement the project successfully it is necessary for the project developers to understand the project details. The people who are investigating the project from the primary stage are actively engaged to the project development phase.  In order to define the overall design of the LRT proper construction details are needed to be considered.

The Bechtel team has rewarded the Edmonton Valley Light Rail project of Canada for its design approach and design details. The developers have become able to launch the new P3 line for the business improvement. The project consortium includes global engineering, Construction Company who nominated the finance, design, supply level vehicles, build, operations and maintenance in the first phase of design (Seo, Golub & Kuby, 2014). In order to meet the requirement of the project, the project stakeholders are required to play proper roles. After collecting feedback from the citizens the light rail transit design has been implemented. It is expected that, for the new setup, a compact form of urban design is needed to be promoted. The strategic goals associated to the project include the following:

• Usage of the land for the integration and transportation
• Proper mobility and system access
• Safety and health of the project team members
• LRT sustainability
• Properly build and maintained infrastructure
• Viability of economic standard

Again from the primary design of LRT system it has been defined that the combined innovative technology will be able to serve cost effective FLEXITY level system solution for the consumers with higher operational reliability and maintainability as well (Nelson et al., 2015).  The FLEXITY system associated to the LRT project hold the below components:

• A turnkey solution which is cost effective
• In order to get easier access a 100% low floor technology
• Lower level energy consumption
• The customization is easier
• An enhanced passenger control system with a spacious level interior
• An eco friendly system with less noise and pollution

From the analysis of different previous design details, it has been found that, the transports in Canadian cities are once completely dominated by the trains. In the year of 1945, around 70% of total passengers of Canada cities were made through the public transport and the public boarding were developed by the tram (Hurst & West, 2014). More than 1 Billion of trips are made by the trams on an annual basis. The Canadian light rail research is strictly focused on the identification, development analysis of the solution to the extension of Millwoods to Lewis Estates. The LRT design and construction has prepared a site location study for improving the impact of screening assessment (Cao & Ettema, 2014). From the initial design stage certain changes those have been evolved in the next stage of development. The proposed changes in the project components are as follows:

• Replacement of a Cameron Ave access as a primary north valley construction with a west route with the Louise McKinney Riverfront Park (LMRP),
• In order to improve the existing options for the improvement of the land it is necessary to provide incessant pedestrian access.
• It will remove the one directional replacement storage of the Light Rail Transit project (Dziauddin, Alvanides & Powe, 2013).
• A temporary trial connector prototype is required to be adopted by the project development authority.
• Location shifting is another important aspects that is also required to be considered before the development of the project

Detailed design and development

In order to shape the future light rail network in the Canadian cities it is necessary for the project developers to provide proper support and strategic goal for the city (Cao & Schoner, 2013). In the expansion of the newly developed network different additional stoppage are developed and for creating connection with all of these stoppage proper plans for the new LTR are needed to be developed with proper realm and integration as well (Boarnet, et al., 2013). Not only this but also the expansion of the network is done both direction such as in the back and forward as well.

Figure 1: Conceptual design of the LRT project

(Source: Gonzalez-Gil at al., 2014, pp-520)

In order to join the employment and other social center throughout the region, rapid transit routes availability must be routed. In order to avoid pollution it is very much necessary for the developer to cross down the bus routes also (Csenge et al., 2016). The system product life cycle and concurrent approach for the serial project, the three different network phases those have been undertake include system or product design and development, system production and construction, system utilization and maintenance.

Figure 2: system design concept of the LRT project

(Sources: Kamaruddin, Osman & Pei, 2017, pp-30)

Even the new route networked for the Light Rail Transit project, whether the route is proper from the business aspect or not can be determined with the help of trail before the final evaluation (Luong & Houston, 2015). The station areas provide riders access to the rail line and that must be thoughtfully planned to fit within the surrounding communities. Not only this but also, the steps those are proposed by the management head for the implementation of the project are as follows:

1. Conceptual design approach is confirmed from the city of council
2. The city bureaus has approved all stages of development for the completion of the design
3. Again the final design is also confirmed by the city council

Figure 3: The network chosen for the LRT project

(Source: Duncan & Christensen, 2013, pp-150)

The LRT project has been completed considering the triple project constraints such as time, scope and budget (Higgins, Ferguson & Kanaroglou, 2014). However, the primary design of the LRT was more functional than decorative.  Through private development and co-operation, the LRT project would have been completed.

The cost estimated for the project:

Before real world implementation of the project light rail testing and commissioning is required to be done by the project system developers. The stakeholders involved to the project are the infrastructure owners, contractors, manufacturers, operators, third party as well. Each of the equipments used in this project should be tested properly before usage (Upchurch & Kuby, 2014). Each system and sections are to be tested because every equipment and sub system has different FAT/SIT/SAT schedule (Duncan & Christensen, 2013). Different simulation software is there and based on project type the project developers should choose the most suitable simulation software for the LRT project. In order to predict the outcome along with the noise impact and rail resigns over the transmission environment it is necessary for the project manager to use simulation software named as PLM software (Calvo et al., 2013). The effect of the counter measures can also be measured with the help of the simulation software. Tough, many other 3D software simulation tools are available those might be used for testing the system while the 1D simulation solution and the dedicated model libraries helps the project developer to optimize the total propulsion system at the very initial stage of LRT project development.  

• After evaluating the LRT project details it has been found that the design level components those are required to be analyzed include the following:
• The Light Rail manufacturer should offer comfortable ride to the consumers
• Comfortable seats with a minimized noise level and vibration control as well
• In order to make the design level decision the PLM simulation software is very much helpful (Loukaitou-Sideris et al., 2013). Thus, dynamics energy management system and in Vehicle audio systems are utilized for this Canadian LRT project.

The network plan for the Light Rail Transit

The parameters considered for the LRT project includes the following:

• Participation from the community group who will operate I the building with no dedicated parking facility
• Volunteers for the required project should test the testing domain and areas properly
• It is needed to be located in high demand parking area
• Municipal parking infrastructure should be developed
• In order to evaluate the feasibility for implementing the pilot programming the street network detail and the newly developed route should be selected.
• The cost estimated for the project must be validated by the project manager and communication community of Canada to make the project economically beneficial.
• In order to avoid road accidents proper signaling approach is required to be validated by the project development team.

Conclusion 

From the overall discussion it can be concluded that, in order to complete the project successfully it is necessary for the project developers to adopt proper maintenance as well support technologies those have been using in the Light Rail Transit (LRT) project. For managing the light rail network properly accurate configuration and orientation in activities are needed to be acquired. In order to ensure that the quality of the Light Rail Transit project of Canada the system design approaches must be properly done. The downtown LRT connector corridor is approved by the city higher authority and the phases through which the project as been developed is cost effective and easy to manage and maintain. The area where the project will be developed is properly analyzed by the civil contractors assigned for this particular project. This particular project also elaborates the way through which it met the preliminarily requirement. Though the project stood beneficial for the country but still certain issues are associated to it. The issues must be resolved with proper recommendations and those are elaborated below.

Development of citizen advisory committee: The Light Rail Transit (LRT) project developers are required to arrange meeting with the citizen advisory committee to get to know about the requirement of the projects and the way through the project development team can meet the requirement easily.

Planning Transit committee and operation committee: The project managers are required to develop a transit committee for operational management and information development.

Expert team hiring: Expert team is needed to be hired by the project developers to complete the project successfully in Canada.

Route management: Considering the other communication channels available in Canada it is necessary for the project manager of the light Rail project to select the details of the route properly with system flow and associate technicalities as well.

References 

Boarnet, M. G., Hong, A., Lee, J., Wang, X., Houston, D., & Spears, S. (2013). The exposition light rail line study: a before and after study of the impact of new light rail transit service. Sol Price School of Public Policy, University of Southern California.

Calvo, F., de Oña, J., Arán, F., & Nash, A. (2013). Light rail transit experience in Madrid, Spain: Effects on population settlement and land use. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, (2353), 82-91.

Cao, J., & Ettema, D. (2014). Satisfaction with travel and residential self-selection: How do preferences moderate the impact of the Hiawatha Light Rail Transit line?. Journal of Transport and Land Use, 7(3), 93-108.

Csenge, M. V., Qian, Y., Dersch, M. S., & Edwards, J. R. (2016). Resilient Concrete Crosstie and Fastening System Designs for Light Rail, Heavy Rail, and Commuter Rail Transit Infrastructure. In Proceedings: 11th World Congress on Railway Research.

Dube, J., Thériault, M., & Des Rosiers, F. (2013). Commuter rail accessibility and house values: The case of the Montreal South Shore, Canada, 1992–2009. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 54, 49-66

Duncan, M., & Christensen, R. K. (2013). An analysis of park-and-ride provision at light rail stations across the US. Transport Policy, 25, 148-157.

Dziauddin, M. F., Alvanides, S., & Powe, N. (2013). Estimating the effects of light rail transit (LRT) system on the property values in the Klang Valley, Malaysia: A hedonic house price approach. Jurnal Teknologi (Sciences and Engineering), 61(1), 35-47.

González-Gil, A., Palacin, R., Batty, P., & Powell, J. P. (2014). A systems approach to reduce urban rail energy consumption. Energy Conversion and Management, 80, 509-524.

Higgins, C., Ferguson, M., & Kanaroglou, P. (2014). Light rail and land use change: rail transit’s role in reshaping and revitalizing cities. Journal of Public Transportation, 17(2), 5.

Hurst, N. B., & West, S. E. (2014). Public transit and urban redevelopment: The effect of light rail transit on land use in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Regional Science and Urban Economics, 46, 57-72.

Kamaruddin, R., Osman, I., & Pei, C. A. C. (2017). Customer expectations and its relationship towards public transport in Klang Valley. Journal of ASIAN Behavioural Studies, 2(4), 29-39.

Loukaitou-Sideris, A., Higgins, H., Cuff, D., & Oprea, D. (2013). Up in the Air: Urban Design for Light Rail Transit Stations in Highway Medians. Journal of Urban Design, 18(3), 313-339.

Luong, T. T., & Houston, D. (2015). Public opinions of light rail service in Los Angeles, an analysis using Twitter data. iConference 2015 Proceedings.

Nelson, A. C., Eskic, D., Ganning, J. P., Hamidi, S., Petheram, S. J., Liu, J. H., & Ewing, R. (2015). Office rent premiums with respect to distance from light rail transit stations in Dallas and Denver.

Seo, K., Golub, A., & Kuby, M. (2014). Combined impacts of highways and light rail transit on residential property values: A spatial hedonic price model for Phoenix, Arizona. Journal of Transport Geography, 41, 53-62.

Upchurch, C., & Kuby, M. (2014). Evaluating light rail sketch planning: actual versus predicted station boardings in Phoenix. Transportation, 41(1), 173-192.