The popular auxiliary design tools, AutoCAD, is required to be adapted for railway design due to rapid development of the railway network construction. This work provides an approach for railway design based on secondary development of AutoCAD by means of VBA language. Based on the Excel file containing the ground elevation and the design elevation data of railway line, the ground across-section and design cross-section automatic drawing is realized according to the parametric drawing system and the communication mechanism between AutoCAD VBA and Excel. For six basic subgrade forms, the developed AutoCAD shows detailed graphical result and accurate calculation of filling and cutting area. As an important procedure of railway line design, this work comes up with a reference for developing a complete railway line. Keywords: AutoCAD; Secondary development; VBA; Railway design; Parametric drawing

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