The Civil Product Team is pleased to announce the availability of OpenRail Designer 2026 (26.00.00.154) is the complete modeling environment for rail infrastructure, which supports all aspects of detailed track design, including surveying, geotechnical, drainage, underground services, terrain, rail track, rail furniture, and more.

The following summarizes the new features and enhancements in the 2026 release of OpenSite Designer, OpenRoads Designer, OpenRail Designer, and OpenRail Overhead Line Designer products, also referred to as OpenX Designer products. Features that are only available in specific products are indicated below.

General Enhancements
– The Bentley Copilot has been added. Copilot delivers context-aware, conversational guidance directly inside OpenRoads and OpenRail Designer, using official help and local project documents to help users move forward faster and with confidence. The Bentley Copilot and Civil Label Organizer are not installed by default. It can be enabled during installation by turning on the optional feature. (Technology Preview)
– The View Set tools are now native code replacing the VBA macro resulting in stability and consistency while maintaining the same functionality. See the OpenRoads or OpenRail Help documentation for details.
– A new civil DGNchecker is added to the Civil Tools backstage. This new tool is used to proactively detect civil‑specific DGN data issues that cause iModel sync failures and downstream instability. (Technology Preview)
– For workspace changes in the 2026 release, please see \Configuration\Organization-Civil\Workspace Updates – 2026.00.pdf and Workspace Updates – 2026.00.xlsx included with the delivered workspace.
– The ability to remove civil data from V8i SS4 files was added to the Action menu in the Civil File Manager. The ability to remove civil data from V8i SS4 files is not new. However, it was previously only available when running the Civil File Manager though a command line, not in the dialog.
– Several new examples have been added to the SDK that demonstrate how to accomplish specific tasks.
Terrain Enhancements
– The new Terrain from Cesium World Terrain tool provides an easy method for users to create terrain for any project site without needing any additional license or cost. Terrain is available around the world.
Item Types
– A new type of Item Type pick list has been added that lists all alignments in the active and reference files eliminating the need to key in alignment names.
Geometry Type
– The performance of the Site Visibility and Line of Site tools have been enhanced. Movemetns to adjust the sight lines is now free from previous stuttering, offering dramatically improved speed.
– The Regression Points Table used in best-fit alignment workflows is now available in both OpenRoads and OpenRail Designer making it easier to view and edit regression points.
– Geometry points placed using Offset/Offset Rule now expose the required information to create an Item Type report.
– The Place Clearance Point tool now includes the geometry names in the properties so they can be used for reporting. (OpenRail Designer Only)
– The Tracking and Analysis tool and its report have been enhanced to show Existing Cant in addition to design Cant. (OpenRail Designer Only)
Annotation Enhancements
– The fields in the Annotation Manager for Frame Annotation shave been enhanced to show 5 decimal places.
– Bulk annotation of bore holes using Annotation Groups has been added for plan and profile drawings.
– Added the ability to annotate cant transition zones. (OpenRail Designer Only)
– Added the ability to display both existing and design cant values in profile annotation (OpenRail Designer Only)
Drainage and Utilities Enhancements
– Frequency Factors have been updated to allow the same multiplier for more than one return period, avoiding the need to use small differences.
– A new Calculation option has been added to override the capture of inlets – treating them as Full Capture. This makes it easier to design and analyze pipes to accommodate all of the approach flow to the inlets, and avoids the need to change the physical alternative and manage parent/child relationships.
– Previously, Analytic Symbology used the active scenario. Now you can specify a scenario, which makes it easy to compare values between two scenarios.
– Support for catalog Cross sections has been added, which makes it easier to change the size of a cross section and reduces the need for multiple feature definitions.
– Formula UDX have been enhanced so that they can now use Enumerated fields as input.
– A new type of UDX field – Text (Formula)has been added. This will return a text string instead of a real, making it easier to provide contextual information.
Low Voltage Assets Enhancements
– Added the ability to lay out LVA equipment at a relative distance from existing equipment, following a Topology Route.
– Added the ability for Schematic models to be displayed left-to-right or right-to-left.