Gulf Construction Online - Doha Metro on track for launch in 2019

Regional News

Doha Metro on track for launch in 2019

01 December 2015

Qatar Rail, the company overseeing the construction of the country’s integrated railway network, said the work at the Doha Metro line was progressing well with a first-phase operational launch on track in 2019 involving three lines – Red, Green and Gold.

Announcing the project’s milestones, Qatar Rail revealed that about 61 km of tunnelling had already been completed out of the targeted 113 km powered by 21 underground tunnel boring machines (TBMs).

Outlining the future plans, Qatar Rail said the entire tunnelling work would be completed next year and soon after that it will award MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing) contracts for the project.

Similarly, contracts for the Doha Metro and Lusail Light Rail Transit Operator and Facility Management are also expected to be awarded next year.

The Qatari company has set an ambitious target of completing 50 per cent of the project work over the next year. A total of 37 stations are under construction and the project has a workforce of more than 27,000 on site.

On its 2015 achievements, Abdulla Abdulaziz Al Subaie, the managing director and chairman of the executive committee of Qatar Rail, said the tunnelling for the Lusail light rail system has been fully completed.

Among next year’s more notable milestones will be the arrival of full scale mock-ups of the new Doha Metro train and Lusail Tram in the city for the first time.

Lauding the company’s on-site achievements, CEO Saad Al Muhannadi said: “Five years into its journey, Qatar Rail is moving with pace, progress and purpose across all of its mega projects, consistently readapting and reallocating its talents, resources and partnerships within stringent timeline and budget provisions.”

“At the centre of its progress, the Doha Metro project has recorded several milestones, starting with tunnelling works that completed 61 km out of 113 km; a quantum leap in the tunnelling works that broke a Guinness World record for the largest number of TBMs operating at the same time under one city, to the backdrop of breakthrough tunnelling and excavation progress achieved across the 37 metro stations,” he added.