June 1, 2012

Riding The Rails: Rail Design Enhancements in Civil 3D 2013

In this post, Ideate Application Specialist Matt Miyamoto provides some insight on the new Rail enhancements for AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013.

In this release of Civil 3D, Autodesk is raising the bar once again by including new Rail Design features and enhancements.

Included in this version are: a new Rail Alignment type, automatic Cant calculations, and added rail-specific parameters, making rail design in Civil 3d easier and more user friendly.

One of the bigger changes to Rail design functionality is the new Rail Alignment type.  This alignment is now included along with the Centerline, Offset, and Miscellaneous alignment types of past releases.

When this alignment is used, an additional Rail Parameters tab is included and the Design Criteria defaults to Cant Design tables for passenger and freight trains.  Rail alignments can also be measured along chord base lengths rather than only along centerlines.


The new Cant design wizard provides users with an interactive Cant calculation tool similar to the Superelevation calculator tool included for road design. 


Cant calculations are done automatically, and the results appear in the Cant Tabular Editor when complete. The old Rail Sub-assembly has also been enhanced to support Cant design.


To see some of these new features in action, be sure to check out the What’s New Videos now posted on YouTube.

Don’t forget to look through other great features our Ideate Technical Team has found in the new 2013 releases for Revit Architecture, Revit MEP, Revit Structure, 3ds Max Design, AutoCAD, Navisworks and more: ideateinc.com/2013



Matt Miyamoto, P.E.
Infrastructure Solutions Application Specialist

Matt is a licensed Civil Engineer in the state of Hawaii. Matt obtained a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and has 7 years of private sector design experience which he applies in his role as an application specialist with Ideate, Inc. His project experience includes residential and commercial site development, private and public sewer, water and drainage systems, harbors improvements, and roadway improvements. While in Hawaii, Matt was involved in multidisciplinary projects for City and County agencies, State Departments, the Army COE and private developers. @MattM_PE

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