Benefit–Cost Analysis of Building Information Modeling (BIM) in a Railway Site

Min Ho Shin, Hye Kyung Lee and Hwan Yong Kim
Additional contact information
Min Ho Shin: Railroad System Research Center, Korea Railroad Research Insititute, 360-1 Woram-dong, Uiwang 437-757, Korea
Hye Kyung Lee: Super-Tall Building Global R&D Center, Dankook University, 152, Jukjeon-ro, Yongin-si 16876, Korea
Hwan Yong Kim: Division of Architecture & Urban Design, College of Urban Sciences, Incheon National University, 119 Academy-Ro, Yeonsu-Gu, Incheon 22012, Korea

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 11, 1-10

Abstract: Recent technological improvements have made substantial changes in construction industry. In specific, some technical applications, such as Building Information Modeling (BIM), open up many possibilities. Some studies have articulated the use of BIM and its advantages in construction, but most of them are theoretical, not practical. This study is to provide an insight to obstacles in BIM research. By investigating a real project that could utilize BIM in planning and construction phases, the authors try to investigate a possible outline of advantages in BIM implementation. The study area was set to a railway construction site in South Korea. The site covers multiple railway tracks, stations, telecommunication facilities, infrastructure facilities, railway structures, and so on. In the site, the authors have identified 12 errors in 7 projects that could be prevented if BIM was utilized before the construction. The total upfront costs required to provide a BIM for the seven projects was $116,348. On the other hand, the total costs required to fix the errors in the seven projects was $166,486. This can be regarded as the benefit of using BIM, because if BIM was implemented then the associated errors could easily be replaced. Therefore, the benefit–cost ratio can be estimated as 1.32 for one-month delay and 1.36 for a three-month delay.

Keywords: Building Information Modeling (BIM); Benefit-Cost Analysis (BCA); railway construction; liquidated damage; infrastructure; planning and design (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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