The V2i Group was invited to be a member of the CLARA Consortium to collaborate on a federally funded high speed rail business case and as a result V2i Realtime has been utilised as the primary communication consultation, stakeholder engagement and design iteration tool for the ‘CLARA’ infrastructure and city planning project, exploring the feasibility of a high-speed rail connection between Melbourne and Sydney via newly established population centres.

As an exceptional example of utilising this type of technology very early in the project, the V2i Realtime application for the CLARA business case encompasses a broader presentation of the proposed rail connection, as well as a detailed planning environment and interactive visualisation of the first city entirely planned as the first of multiple sustainable population centres supporting the long-distance rail connection.

Our primary challenge was to represent a wide variety of preliminary data sets from a range of consultants and to provide Nick Cleary and his team with an output that would assist with the effective communication and interest generation for this bold vision.

With each of the newly proposed cities representing in the order of 400,000 people, it has been a great showcase for the federation of data and information to communicate the various economic, social and design concepts required to successfully implement a project of this magnitude. V2i Realtime provided a platform to show how the first high speed rail station could interface with the city of Melbourne, as well as the broader nationwide connectivity and local placemaking principles at the foundation of this next generation of Australian walkable and sustainable smart cities.

Once the V2i Realtime digital twin was in place, the interactive application, as well as several derived outputs, were utilised by the communication team to inform and gain interest among a wide range of high-profile stakeholders. We thank and congratulate Nick Cleary and the CLARA Consortium members for the opportunity to participate in this significant visioning exercise, and for choosing an interactive and immersive real time digital approach to this fittingly futuristic project.

It is an exceptional showcase of how to federate and easily communicate the many economic, social, and design-driven ideas and concepts that everyone needs to successfully integrate and understand to deliver this big vision.