Sep 2005 - Parsons Brinckerhoff

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ALL PHOTOS THIS SPREAD © 2005 DAVID SAILORS Dr. Yan Wang, working on projects for the 2008 Olympics, is not new to the games, having done planning in Atlanta in 1996. The Beijing Olympic Green Indoor Sport/Media and Convention Center, for which PB is doing mechanical and electrical consulting. high-speed line relieve overcrowding on existing rail, it will offer speedy travel to commuters and others who need modern and efficient transportation to partake fully in the flourishing Chinese economy. Construction, expected to begin this year, will take four years at a cost of $4 billion. PB’s Project Manager is Mike Gillam, who will lead an initial team of five PB professionals. Among those responsible for winning the contract was Xie Jing, Infrastructure Manager for North China. “Just as it did at the turn of the 20th century, PB is helping provide state-of-the-art rail transportation for China in the 21st century,” says O’Neill. “The Zhengzhou to Xi’an high-speed rail is one of China’s largest transportation projects and employs high-speed technology that will certainly challenge our engineers and technical specialists.” PB is working on transportation planning, including bus rapid transit, for the 2008 Olympic Games. Olympian Efforts Beijing is proud to be the site of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. PB is on several project teams mobilizing the host city. One is the Beijing Olympic Green Area Transportation Plan for during and after the Games for the Beijing General Municipal Engineering Design and Research Institute. PB executed the entire games-period transportation plan for the 1,215-hectare (3,000- acre) Olympic Green, led by PB Technical Advisor Dick Fleming, based in Sydney, site of the 2000 Olympics. “PB,” says Fleming, “worked closely with local planners on a strategy that embraces travel and security needs of diverse user groups so transportation in Beijing 2008 will be a standout success.” Dr. Yan Wang, Manager of the Planning and ITS (Intelligent Transportation Systems) Department in PB’s Beijing office and who participated in planning the transportation in Atlanta for the 1996 Olympics, served as PB Project Manager for the Beijing project. She worked with Fleming, then led the charge for post-game planning for Olympic Green and its environs, which includes strategic planning for transit as well as parking. “We brought foreign Olympic success and lessons learned to Beijing,” says Wang, noting that “PB is the only U.S. company that has participated in 2008 transportation planning.” The firm is also mechanical and electrical consultant on the Beijing Olympic Green Indoor Sport/Media and Convention Center. Sustainable Development Last year, Beijing staff and clients attended PB’s sustainable development training for transit (led by Susanna Kerr-Adler and Ray Hornbuckle, both from the U.S.). Says Wang: “Sustainable planning is the hottest issue on the market. As energy, water and air quality issues continue raising concerns and more government regulations come into play, this market will become more attractive.” Wind power has taken off on Nan’ao Island, in southeast China, with its coastal winds— and several wind farms. For the subsidiary of the China Huaneng Group planning a 100-MW wind farm there, PB Power conducted a wind resource assessment. Led by Achim Hoehne, Wind Power Group Engineering Manager, PB monitored 30 locations, noting considerable wind speed variation. Conclusion: Turbines should not be evenly distributed but concentrated on the island’s southern section for optimum efficiency. China’s Mega Growth China is leading Asia’s economic growth and PB is creating its own role in China’s future. Dr. Patrick Lun notes, “Since 1984, when PB provided engineering services for the five-star China Hotel in Guangzhou, we have held to our policy of sharing our knowledge with local engineers via technology transfer and localization of our staff.” According to Lun, local residents account for 80 percent of total staff for PB in China. Project management tools and techniques, notes Lun, along with safety and risk management practices, are introduced by PB on major infrastructure including the current key rail projects. “This is new to our China staff and clients alike,” says Lun. For example, says Cheng Zhong Hang, Chief Supervising Engineer, Shanghai Metro Yang Pu (M8) Line, “PB brings in advanced technical and management skills for the project, the training for our staff and great help during the construction—all very much appreciated.” And there are benefits to PB’s staff, as Lun points out: “We offer our staff the chance to work on world-class projects. China offers great opportunities for PB for many decades to come. We are well placed to meet these challenges. PB is committed to China.” China’s economic growth is eye-popping. As Hawksworth Dr. Patrick Lun, Deputy Chief Operating Officer of PB Asia- Pacific and Manager of PB’s Greater China Region, says China offers great opportunities for PB for decades to come. explains, “Growth of over 4 percent in a developing market suggests there is a good market for foreign consultants. Economic growth of 8 to 9 percent—as in China—indicates very extensive opportunities,” he says. “In China, the people are proud of their own capability and want access to the best technology, to acquire expertise and experience of firms like PB. Technology transfer allows a local office to provide PB’s expertise to clients.” Hawksworth summarizes PB’s success in China. “We’ve made some inroads in the infrastructure sector in design and program or project management for metros in Shanghai and Shenzhen. We’ve provided MEP design services to more super high-rise buildings than any other international firm. And we’ve been modestly successful in program management for industrial facilities like the Xizi Otis Elevator Company factory in Hangzhou.” China Tomorrow A streamlined train speeding past a pedicab, a high-rise dwarfing ancient dwellings, high-tech systems controlling a melange of traffic from bicycles to buses to over-laden open trucks. China is accelerating and PB is contributing to that progress. • Cranes dotting the skyline indicate new buildings and the infrastructure that will be necessary to lift China to new heights. 4 • Notes Notes • 5
Shanghai and Shenzhen: A Tale of Two Cities ALL PHOTOS THIS SPREAD © 2005 DAVID SAILORS S hanghai is a cosmopolitan city that has been a center of commerce for centuries. Today its gleaming high-rises, ultramodern stock exchange and futuristic architecture make it the very symbol of China’s ascendancy to economic powerhouse status. By contrast, just 30 years ago, Shenzhen was a small fishing village. Situated across the border from Hong Kong, however, its star rose quickly to a teeming city of 5 million, on an upward economic trajectory of its own, thanks mainly to its status as a Special Economic Zone, granted in 1980 by the Chinese Central Government. As different as the two cities may be, when it comes to moving people around town, Shanghai and Shenzhen share a dream: mass transit systems that are as efficient and modern as they come. PB is local in both cities, continuing to support the weaving of transit into the urban fabric. Shanghai’s Mega Metro Shanghai’s 17 million inhabitants need a lot of metro power. The Shanghai Metro’s first line opened in 1995 and, four years later, the first phase of a second line was in revenue service. Between 2001 and 2005 alone, more than 180 kilometers (112 miles) of transit lines have either been designed, are under construction or were completed. This will increase to form a network of more than 810 kilometers (503 miles) consisting of heavy, mass transit and light rail systems over the next 25 years. PB has had a “big picture” role and a specific project role. In the 1990s, Shanghai Metro Corporation rethought its plan for Metro Line 2 in order to bring it into the important, fastdeveloping Pudong financial district. “PB compared and Tunneling for a new Shanghai Metro line uses the Double-O-Tube tunnel boring machine, reducing excavation cost and easing work in the city’s narrow streets. assessed costs of the design options, using its proprietary Subway Environment Simulation computer program, to estimate air conditioning and energy consumption requirements of the environmental control and the traction power system,” reports Xiao-Bing Zhu, PB’s Manager for Project Development in Shanghai. “More recently PB has completed most of the city’s transit-oriented development [TOD] planning projects, plus architectural and MEP services for the Xu-Jia-Hui Interchange— one of the most important and complex interchange stations in Shanghai,” adds Zhu. On the Yang Pu Line, a 23-kilometer (14-mile), 21-station segment scheduled to begin operations in October 2006, new technology is advancing construction. The Shanghai Metro is the first in China (and only the second in the world, after Japan, where it originated) to use a new doubletube drilling technology known as the Double-O-Tube binocularshaped tunnel boring machine. It is smaller and more compact Shenzhen Metro Line No. 1 opened with fully automatic trains (control room, left; maintenance facility depot, right). Additional lines will further the city’s economic growth. than two single tubes, reducing the cost of excavation and facilitating work in the very narrow streets. PB’s technical expertise was sought for three sections of the Double-O-Tube tunnel, with a total length of 2.7 kilometers (1.7 miles). “The large and binocular crosssection and the very shallow depth of the tunnel resulted in some unique issues. Our goal was to minimize disturbance to the soil, the surface and subsurface structures,” says PB’s Project Manager Jie-Tai Huang. Says Cheng Zhong Hang, Chief Supervising Engineer of Shanghai Metro Consultation and Supervision Science and Technology Co. Limited, “The involvement and assistance of PB have been very helpful for the successful completion of the tunnel excavation.” As of mid-2005, excavation was complete and tunnel finishing was in the works. Shenzhen Metro Off to a Running Start Recognizing the need for transit in this developing city, the government-sponsored Shenzhen Metro Co., Ltd. celebrated the opening of the Shenzhen Metro Lines No. 1 and No. 4—the first metro system in the city—on December 28, 2004. Eager crowds climbed aboard the Shenzhen Metro, which was the first in China to commence operations with full automatic train control. Part of the system runs 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) east to west with 15 stations starting at the immigration building at Luohu next to the Kowloon- Canton Railway (KCR) station. Another segment extends 4.5 kilometers (3 miles) south to north; this five-station portion of the line will ultimately connect to another KCR station to be built at Lok Ma Chau in Hong Kong. Led by Deputy Project Manager James Pang, PB was responsible for undertaking system gap analysis, safety assessment, planning and management of system commissioning and operational drills with the provision of on-site technical support. So vital is the Metro to Shenzhen that the Shenzhen Metro No. 3 Line Investment Company Ltd. had already begun work in mid-2004 on another line of 33 kilometers (20.5 miles) and 21 stations. In the firm’s first opportunity to work with Chinese engineering design institutes on a project from greenfield site to revenue operation, PB is providing program and construction management services for Line No. 3. Construction will begin in late 2005; revenue service is slated for 2008. According to Project Manager Louis Lee, Line No. 3 is PB’s first major rail transit project in China and the first time the client has given the nod to an international consultant to assist in project management for the whole project cycle. “In so doing, the client will reap the benefit of international advanced project management techniques to help run the system smoothly,” says Lee. In October 2004, PB was named subconsultant on the 23-kilometer (14-mile), 15-station extension of Metro Line No. 1. Project Manager Emil Cheung is leading PB’s work as design review consultant to a local Chinese design institute for the extension, which is slated for completion in 2008. The future of the metros in Shenzhen and Shanghai will add to the tale of these two cities. “Mass transit isn’t just about moving people from point to point,” says Lee. “Transit also has a real influence on the way a city grows and develops.” • Xiao-Bing Zhu Jie-Tai Huang James Pang Louis Lee Emil Cheung 6 • Notes Notes • 7
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Sep 2005 - Parsons Brinckerhoff

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