15. Engineering Excellence Awards Sydney (EEAS)

I was very fortunate to be a part of the Engineering Excellence Awards Night, Sydney Division. I was one of the volunteers running around and helping out. It was a great experience hearing about amazing projects and seeing companies being rewarded for it.

EEAS Volunteers

 Had a wonderful night!

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13. The Current Status of the Civil Engineering Profession

Over the past century, civil engineers have dutifully earned the legacy they paved for themselves. Clean water supplies have increased life expectancies. Transportation systems have made a positive contribution to the social and economic sustainability of the communities they serve. Contemporary bridges have brought societies closer together, blending beauty and strength, speed and transport. Engineers, in the public and private sector, have provided the foundation of design and project management, producing thousands of jobs that drive community development.

 

From the beautiful and functional Golden Gate Bridge in the United States, Petronas Towers in Malaysia and Pont du Gard in France to the largely hidden water supply and sanitary sewer systems in Australia, civil engineers have made their mark in many aspects of the daily life of everyone around the world.

Of course, civil engineers know they cannot rest on their laurels. Ongoing discussions have risen over the years about the future of the profession, that is, the role that civil engineers will play in society down the road. Over the years, there have been many notable figures in the civil engineering industry that have sounded the alarm about the lack of investment in improving and maintaining infrastructure. Some of the shortcomings have unfortunately manifested by the death and destruction caused by failures. Consequently, inquires into engineering designs and government funding have come to light.

    

Civil engineers are painfully aware of the consequences for public health, safety and welfare when infrastructure does not receive the attention it requires. That is why I believe that civil engineers must be more active in the policy and decision making process, to ensure it is based on sound technical foundation. With this comes broadened responsibilities - stepping up to the plate and participating in political and public services.Civil engineers need to transform themselves from designers and builders to project life-cycle 'sustainers'.

Civil engineers should participate in public policy forums where future directions for societies are developed and in turn be perceived as trusted advisors to the public and policy-makers (regarding infrastructure). Better yet, actually being elected into the public office where they can directly influence infrastructure and sustainability policies / legislation. (Hon Bill Marmion MLA WA, Campbell Newman Qld and Greg Combet Vic are examples of engineers involved in the Australian Parliament and have all been listed in the 100 most influential engineers list of 2012.)

Furthermore, we need to revolutionise the basic civil engineering education in universities today.The education and training of future civil engineers and the continued development of today’s civil engineers should include and go beyond the required technical competencies. Education should meld technical excellence with the ability to lead, influence and integrate.

 

For the civil engineering profession to stay relevant in society, we must create a sustainable world and enhance the global quality of life not only as planners, designers, constructors and operators but also as leaders in shaping public environmental and infrastructure policies.

Sources:
The Vision for Civil Engineering in 2025 - ASCE
Civil Engineering - Building the Future
Engineers and Politics

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12. North West Rail Link

The highly anticipated rail infrastructure project, North West Rail Link is now 'on track' to build Australia's largest tunnel project. The tender that obtained this major project is a joint venture between Thiess John Holland Dragados (TJHD). Recently being awarded the $1.15 billion Tunnel and Station Civil Works contract, TJHD will undertake construction of two 15 kilometre long tunnels with a 6.1 metre diameter. That's a pretty narrow tunnel, it looks like the currently running double decker trains won't be operating on the NWRL. Instead they'll be be running single-deck trains which are supposed to be more efficient. Looks like Sydney is following suit to the rest of the world's railway systems.

Image Source: Sydney Morning Herald

I wanted to bring attention to the custom made Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM) which will be used to construct the tunnels. I was first exposed to TBMs in my second year of study, in Soil Mechanics. Never knowing how tunnels were created, I was in awe over the large piece of machinery. I hope it won't be too long till I see one in action.

The two remaining contracts associated with the NWRL are still waiting to be signed. The Surface and Viaduct Civil (SVC) contract aims to build the 4 kilometre skytrain and associated civil works including embankments and cuttings for the railway and the Operations, Trains and Systems (OTS) contract will deliver the new-generation single deck trains, install tracks and signalling which is to be awarded in 2014.

There is still a very long way to go, with the expected finishing date to be in 2019. The opening of eight new stations, Cherrybrook, Castle Hill, Showground, Norwest, Bella Vista, Kellyville, Rouse Hill and Cudgegong Road will open up the Hills area to the rest of Sydney.

Sources:
North West Rail Link to be state of the art
Thiess, John Holland JV to Build Australia’s Longest Tunnels

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11. My Final Exams for Semester 1, 2013

It's always a huge relief to finish exams. My exams for this semester were dragged out over two weeks so exam period seemed longer than ever. I definitely favour spread out exams over back to back exams (which I experienced in second year). Overall, I felt that I was able to manage my time for exam study efficiently this semester. I found that doing little things like dancing to my favourite beats right before an exam helps relieve my pre-exam stress.

The easiest way to reflect on this semester's exams is probably chronologically.

• CVEN3201: Geotechnics was by far the most interesting subject to study this semester. The main reason for this was being able to relate to real life situations such as observing loads being applied on retaining walls. Doing past papers from 2008-2012 really aided my understanding in the subject. Preparations for this exam was quite straightforward since the course was so well-designed with sufficient amount of resources. No worked solutions (only final answer) for the past papers were not provided which I found beneficial as I was forced to test my understanding. My final exam consisted of 4 questions (the previous papers had 5). I was pretty bummed out that they missed out on covering the Lateral Earth Pressure topic as that would have been easy marks for me. Question 2 addressed the Cone Penetration Test (CPT) which we only covered briefly in the course. The consensus from my cohort was that it took us by surprise. Apart from that, the rest of the paper were very similar to the past papers.


• CVEN3501: Water Resources was quite straightforward, 50% theory, 50% calculations. Not too confident for the multiple choice section but all in all, a decent test.


• CVEN2301: Each question in Mechanics of Solids took quite a bit of time to complete. No difficult concepts to wrap my head around except getting through the calculations. Having to use my brain for three hour straight really drained my brain juice. By the end of the test, I was exhausted. 


• CVEN3401: By the time, my Transport exam came around, I was glad that it was almost over. Pretty straightforward exam. The second traffic question was deceiving as the Network system looked quite complicated and I thought I would have to spend a good half hour on it but upon closer inspection, it was actually the easiest test in the paper and it only took 5 minutes to complete. Relief! Someone forgot to supply us a graph for us to complete the last question so it was cancelled. The marks were then distributed within the pavement design section. Slightly irritated that happened as I had went through a very similar question the night before and was quite capable of obtaining the marks for that question. 

That brings Semester 1, 2013 to a close. I have work lined up everyday (except weekends) in the holidays. Most engineering internship applications open during the break so I will probably be looking into those as well. All the best to my peers who are also applying for jobs.

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10. The Hop Signage (Transport for New South Wales)

Most Sydney-siders like myself have probably heard of the major upcoming transition of the Railcorp entity. As of the 1st July 2013, the infamous Cityrail becomes Sydney Trains and NSW Trains. The Cityrail brand will no longer exist, being replaced with new 'Hop' signages, Sydney Trains logos and uniforms.

It seems like the new 'hop signage' are starting to emerge at Milsons Point. The new signage distinguishes modes of transport into different colours while keeping the same standard across the network. Going back to basics, T is for Train, F for Ferry, B for Bus and L for Light Rail. This naming system provides consistency which is a good 'sign' for commuters.

     

     

According to many news reports and commuters, the members of the Sydney community are hesitant about the re-branding and doubtful this will change the efficiency of transport services. But I believe that when rebranding an entire entity, the initial superficial stage is appropriate. Stepping away from the negative connotations that Cityrail has earnt itself over the past decade is the first step to improvement. So far, I'm impressed at how modern and clean the new signs are so here's hoping that our transport services follow suit.

All photos courtesy of Beau Giles

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9. Australia's approach on Infrastructure

Australia has a pressing need for substantial infrastructure investment to support the nation’s long-term growth. With Australia's economic and social aspirations, it is evident that dramatic modifications to the current infrastructure short-term approach need to be made.

Under current arrangements, the Australian government does not have sufficient headroom on their budgets to fund the level of infrastructure required in the country. Addressing the constraints on the capacity of the government to invest in infrastructure is particularly important given that the demand for infrastructure is projected to increase significantly in the coming years.

Infrastructure planning requires a long term vision, much longer than the election cycle, to deliver quality outcomes that will support Australia’s social and economic development. Governments should move beyond the current four-year approach to budgeting to strengthen the current Infrastructure investment pipeline. I believe that the Australian government should strive for a long-term approach. Instead of fulfilling short term promises, they should plan and present projects with 10-year budgets and estimates of their prospective infrastructure outlays.

Additionally, we need to question why so many infrastructure projects have grossly incorrect forecasts? Whether it be, under-estimating the cost of major infrastructure projects or over-estimating the demand. Australians have plenty of experience with under-performing infrastructure projects. For starters, just in transport alone, there’s Sydney’s Lane Cove and Cross City tunnels that took its 'toll'. The real question behind these errors, is who's responsible?

Research explains that these errors are mainly due to promoters, investors and politicians deliberately under-estimating costs and over-estimating benefits. These parties have the motivation to do so, to obtain approval and funding for their projects. In turn, it's a case of not the best projects being implemented but the ones that look best on paper. This type of strategic misinterpretation should be reprimanded. On the brighter side, one way to address this problem is implementing a reference class forecasting approach - predicting the future, through looking at similar past situations and their outcomes.

Australian roads are becoming more congested everyday. Of course the community wants and expects high quality transport infrastructure though it is clear that the current road funding/taxing arrangements will struggle to meet Australia’s future transport challenges. This is why Australia must embrace bold reforms to find new opportunities to fund projects. Such as for the community to pay higher taxes to fund a higher spend by governments. Alternatively, the private sector could play a greater role in directly providing road services, although this would necessarily involve an expanded role for direct user charges. This is not an unfamiliar concept as many Australian drivers in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane are already being tolled. This method could promote the use of carpooling or public transport.

It is important to recognise that if the infrastructure shortfall is not addressed, it will have an adverse impact on Australia’s competitiveness. For example, the increasing costs of transport and logistics, utilities and social infrastructure services point to a shortfall in capacity. This will continue to impart the cost of living pressure on households and erode the competitiveness of Australian businesses.

Communication is key if Australia wants to move forward.

Sources:
Infrastructure Finance and Funding Reform Report
Changes Needed To Australia’s Infrastructure Approach
Why do the worst infrastructure projects get built?

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