In Issue 218 (Jan-Feb 2026), an article titled ‘Managing earthworks with technology’ said that the future of geotechnic earthwork management could involve a number of technologies, and that the key will lie in the integration of multiple approaches to provide a comprehensive understanding of the assets managed by competent experienced geotechnical engineers.
Rail Engineer was delighted to meet up with the principal route engineer (geotech) at Network Rail West Coast Main Line south to learn this is being trialled on the route in the form of a digital twin of geotechnical earthworks.
Digital twin?
A digital twin is a virtual model of an asset, system, or process, and connected to its real-world counterpart by a flow of real-time data, so that the digital twin mimics the real asset as much as possible. This helps with testing interventions and actions (including do nothing), and helps to understand how different actions might affect the real-world asset. Digital twins have applications across many sectors, including, water, energy, health, and of course rail.
The need for an earthworks digital twin on the route was driven by a number of factors. Earthworks are an aging asset with many beyond their design life. They were constructed without the knowledge of modern geotechnics and soil mechanics. Many have non-compliant slope angles and were built using questionable construction methods for a railway far less busy and slower than today’s railway.
The earthwork assets face increased risk from the more variable weather patterns and potential risk from neighbours. It is no longer possible to carry out regular physical inspections of earthworks easily due to better safe systems of work and the railway faces a constrained budget.
Asset stewards need a better understanding of how their assets are performing in order to prioritise their budget, and they need to innovate in order to manage assets better, target interventions, and to maintain and improve asset safety. In simple terms they need to work smarter and make better data-driven decisions.
Enter GHD
This was the remit which the engineering and digital consultancy GHD responded to when it created an earthworks digital twin for West Coast South, providing a comprehensive digital replica of the route’s high-risk earthworks. Data captured by drone replaces physical on-track inspections, and the system provides an accurate super high-fidelity digital replica, aggregating a wide variety of information in a single platform to assist the geotechnical asset steward. A highly accessible interactive visual record of the earthwork and its surroundings is created, replacing lengthy written reports.
Sub surface information is captured from the British Geological Survey’s geology layers. This includes their analytical layers, which cover landslip, karstic and desiccation susceptibility as well as assessing impact from climate projections. In addition, the model imports borehole records geo referenced in accordance with data standards of the Association of Geotechnical Specialists.
This comprehensive digital replica allows the understanding of any outside party activities and changes over time, together with physical changes to the asset such as vegetation condition or blocked crest drainage for example. Drone based Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology is used to observe surface changes and concentration features, especially in areas with dense vegetation and a history of instability. The technology enables the easy transfer of asset knowledge from engineer to engineer in a virtual, interactive way, and can reduce the need for lengthy paper-based reports.
Growing coverage
There are 6,178 managed earthworks on West Coast South and 440 of these are now covered by a digital twin. It is planned that 1,200 of the higher risk assets will be covered by the end of Control Period 7 (March 2029), delivering a £450 average cost per inspection. This will allow the time required to produce a major earthwork management strategy to be vastly reduced, as all the data will be available interactively in one place enabling fast and reactive prioritisation. This will also help enormously with producing robust business cases for investment.
The benefits of an earthwork digital twin combining ‘mud and data bits’ are:
- Safety: Up-to-date and user-friendly asset data which allow for a better understanding of neighbouring land risk, as traditionally it has not been easy to see what is occurring over the railway boundary; quicker interventions to hazards as they arise; reduced time working on a live railway and surveying on hazardous slopes.
- Data quality: Reduction of lengthy written reports and better deterioration tracking; best use of external technical data sources; reduced reliance on unpredictable examination data; and earthwork technical risk reviews made much easier to produce.
- Efficiency: There is an operational cost efficiency with a reduced number of on-site inspections; a reduction in disruptive railway access; and quicker production of geo hazard risk assessments. The data is also immediately available and can be easily incorporated in pre-construction information packs.
Award winning
An earlier version of the technology used in the Watford area won the Ground Engineering Award in 2024 for Technical Excellence. The judges said: “This is a great demonstration of a digital twin, which holds immense potential for future applications, resulting in a satisfied client. The solution effectively acknowledges the real challenges associated with data collection for site inspections.”
The system now in use has been developed even further with many enhancements.
The route is to be congratulated on using innovative digital twin technology to save costs and improve the asset stewardship of geotechnical earthwork assets.
Image credit: iStockphoto.com/vadymplysluk