Mihocic, E; Gharehbaghi, K; Hilletofth, P; Tee, K F and Myers, M (2025) Augmenting the cities' and metropolitan regional demands for mega rail infrastructure: The application of SWOT and factor analysis. Smart and Sustainable Built Environment, 14(2), pp. 377-406. ISSN 2046-6099
Abstract
Purpose: In successfully meeting city and metropolitan growth, sustainable development is compulsory. Sustainability is a must-focus for any project, particularly for large and mega rail infrastructure. This paper aims to investigate to what degree social, environmental and economic factors influence the government when planning sustainable rail infrastructure projects. To respond to such a matter, this paper focuses on two Australian mega-rail projects: the South West Rail Link (SWRL) and the Mernda Rail Extension (MRE). Design/methodology/approach: As the basis of an experimental evaluation framework strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) and factor analysis were used. These two methods were specifically selected as comparative tools for SWRL and SWRL projects, to measure their overall sustainability effect. Findings: Using factor analysis, in the MRE, the factors of network capacity, accessibility, employment and urban planning were seen frequently throughout the case study. However, politics and economic growth had lower frequencies throughout this case study. This difference between the high-weighted factors is likely a key element that determined the SWRL to be more sustainable than the MRE. The SWOT analysis showed the strengths the MRE had over the SWRL such as resource use and waste management, and natural habitat preservation. These two analyses have shown that overall, calculating the sustainability levels of a project can be subjective, based on the conditions surrounding various analysis techniques. Originality/value: This paper first introduces SWRL and MRE projects followed by a discussion about their overall sustainable development. Both projects go beyond the traditional megaprojects' goal of improving economic growth by developing and enhancing infrastructure. Globally, for such projects, sustainability measures are now considered alongside the goal of economic growth. Second, SWOT and factor analysis are undertaken to further evaluate the complexity of such projects. This includes their overall sustainable development vision alignment with environmental, economic and social factors.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | factor analysis; mega rail infrastructure; rail projects; SWOT analysis |
| Index terms: | sustainable development, evaluation, complexity, railway construction, megaproject, urban planning, waste management, methodology, politics, social factor, employment, case study, accessibility, economic factor, economic growth, infrastructure project, habitat preservation, factor analysis |
| Subjects: | data analysis and analytics, data collection methods, sociology, infrastructure and transport systems, political science, statistical analysis, systems engineering, management, biodiversity, civil engineering, urban planning, strategic project management, waste management, economic development, research methods, inclusive design, economic concepts, health safety and environment |
| Topics: | Governance, Research Practice, Human Resources, Design Practice, Sustainability, Engineering Principles, Project Management, Health and Safety |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here