BIM COMPETENCY REQUIREMENTS FOR CHINA RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT

Abstract

BIM delivery in railway infrastructure is shaped by dense subsystem interfaces and formal review-and-acceptance gates, which place strong demands on traceable, auditable information. However, BIM competency descriptions in the literature remain largely generic and provide limited guidance for railway-specific delivery governance and role profiling. This study investigates the BIM competencies required for railway infrastructure projects through a qualitative design using a structured interview protocol with open-ended prompts. Ten railway BIM practitioners were interviewed, and transcripts were analysed thematically; themes were developed inductively and reported using Succar’s Core-Domain-Execution layers. The findings indicate that competency is primarily judged by the ability to produce review-ready packages under controlled coordination and change, rather than by software proficiency alone. Five competency clusters were identified: data governance and traceability; integration and platform-enabled coordination; compliance and configuration discipline; model and workflow execution for deliverable production; and lifecycle readiness supported by scenario thinking and reality-capture/verification. The study proposes a preliminary railway-contextualised competency structure and links clusters to delivery nodes and verifiable artefacts to support assessment and training design.