Railway design

[MPsico]

Hi all...

i m starting my final project at the college, and i need a software to design railways, in this specific case is a light rail train...

which software is best for this purpose? civil3d? civil design companion? or another product?

thanks in advance, and sorry for my english...

[MHultgren]

I would probably use Civil 3D to do the layout and then use Civil Companion to add the finishing touches to your project.

[MPsico]

could you be more specific? what kind of things would you do with civil3d and which ones with companion?

[MHultgren]

I would create my existing surface and preliminary alignment with 3D and then add the Towers (if needed) and finish grade, templates for the rail system, and cross sections using Companion. Then, when you process your cross sections, import the surface and PCode points for your rail elevations using Roadway Modeller. Create 3D plines for your top of rail and then do a 3D offset to set the grades at the base of the rails and shoulders, walkways, etc.

[MPsico]

ok...

i m a little concern about te turnouts, i m giving a try to inrail, and seems to be more specific product for railways design...

[MHultgren]

Inrail is probably your best choice. I didn't want to suggest that due to the fact that I am one of the moderators and this forum is focused on Autodesk products. I was hoping someone else would have suggested it. It is your best choice for the project you are talking about though.

[MPsico]

ok i supposed so...

i don t know if we can discuse this here, but bentley has 3 different products for railway design, i dont know which one is the best...

[MHultgren]

I am not familiar with Inrail or the other Bentley products other than Inroads and Geopak. So I would not be a good one to ask. If you have access to newsgroups, you could check out the bentley newsgroups to find out.

[dfarris75]

ok i supposed so...

i don t know if we can discuse this here, but bentley has 3 different products for railway design, i dont know which one is the best...
Of course you can discuss it here. Just because it's an Autodesk user group doesn't mean you can't discuss competing products. User groups aren't about being a software loyalist. They are about users helping users to accomplish whatever task may be at hand.